I don't really think the author can complain about iOS 4 / 5 compatibility issues as being an 'XCode issue'. It's an iOS issue. iOS 5 gives you some new features. You don't have to use them. You don't have to use storyboards. It sounds as if he wants every new feature to be back-ported to previous iOS versions.
If you don't like conditionally coding around deprecated methods, just support new iOS versions. If you want to support older version, you have to live with it. That's not an iOS issue: Android is in the same boat. So, in fact, are most operating systems. New versions bring you new features. It's up to you to decide whether the trade-off of being visible only to users running the latest version is worth it.
I could get behind a lot of the points being made, but that one just came off as a bit of a whine. It reads as if the author hasn't really looked at other platforms: the grass really isn't much greener. XCode as an IDE can be very frustrating. I agree it's very buggy. But complaining about the speed of the iOS simulator? Has the author even used the Android Emulator? If he reckons the iOS simulator has 'tremendous lag' then I have no idea what words could be used to describe the Android emulator...
You're right about IOS4/5, that was an oversight on my part. I guess I lumped them together because when I am battling the IOS4/5 incompatibilities, I am doing it in XCode. But you are absolutely right the two are separate.
I have used the Android emulator and done work on Android. It is quite fragmented as well. But I am working right next to another mobile developer for the last 2 months, he is on Android and I am on IOS and he hasn't felt as much pain with the emulator or supporting different Android versions. Then again, maybe he's just smarter than me.
Please upgrade to Xcode 4.3.2 - Apple released an update to fix the bugs 4.3 and 4.3.1 had. It is much more stable than before.
I have had some problems when the debugger was connecting to the Simulator, but most of the times it was because of other things which were installed in my system.
I know that Xcode4 used to be shitty and slow and used to crash. But Apple has come a long way from what they started.
Even though Xcode4 is a little painful to use on a small screen, still it is far better than Xcode 3.
Android, on the hand has different screen resolutions, different specifications and that alone is a pain. I have not even started with the OS fragmentation yet.
Many others have already answered the problems you were having with iOS4 and iOS5 backward compatibility. I think, you should spend a little more time with Xcode before making a judgement call.
Interestingly I have encountered ALL of the bugs from that article. However I don't mind Xcode that much, when I start to get frustrated with it I remember that It could be worse, it's not like Androids tools are much better, last time I used Android the emulator was unbearably slow.
If you don't like conditionally coding around deprecated methods, just support new iOS versions. If you want to support older version, you have to live with it. That's not an iOS issue: Android is in the same boat. So, in fact, are most operating systems. New versions bring you new features. It's up to you to decide whether the trade-off of being visible only to users running the latest version is worth it.
I could get behind a lot of the points being made, but that one just came off as a bit of a whine. It reads as if the author hasn't really looked at other platforms: the grass really isn't much greener. XCode as an IDE can be very frustrating. I agree it's very buggy. But complaining about the speed of the iOS simulator? Has the author even used the Android Emulator? If he reckons the iOS simulator has 'tremendous lag' then I have no idea what words could be used to describe the Android emulator...