> or at least give a free version of the c/c++ ide.

The Nova preview is free to use. License not required until it is merged into CLion.

Free while you are testing it. After that pay. I do not see anything free here but my time and effort.

Obviously you get a C++ IDE for free for a few months or so.

No one is forcing you to install it. Your rant is pointless.

I own CLion and will try it out. It probably works well enough. If not then I simply won't use it.

So tell me, please, what is the point to use for a few months this IDE?. Do you want me to start my project and stop after the trial period ends?. This is only valuable for the company because you test their products for free...

> Do you want me to start my project and stop after the trial period ends?

CLion projects are not IDE specific. CLion uses CMake.

If the trial ends and you want to continue using it then buy it. If not, then don't buy it. Your C++ project still works in every other IDE.

The preview is working flawlessly for me BTW. I prefer it to the stable release. Existing paying users are the main target for this preview.

> This is only valuable for the company because you test their products for free

None of their paying users are forced to use it. It is entirely optional to use the beta release or remain on the stable release. I have both of them installed side by side. I prefer having the option to test it out and report bugs or provide suggestions. I am effectively paying them to develop it and so am entitled to check out their work in progress and provide feedback.

They have their own internal QA department. Early access is additional to that. Improves quality overall and is a win/win for company and users.

So far I have found zero issues to report. It just works for me.

Some might argue that most software ends up "testing someone's code for free" because many products do end up leaving QA with bugs.

There's a lot to like about JetBrains. Their IDEs are good. I've use a few of them for Java, .Net and Kotlin and they don't suck. I used Visual Studio since version 6, but in earnest since 2003 and it has steadily decreased in quality over time. I feel like I am constantly testing their IDE for them. At least now with IDEs like Rider, I get something that is better than VS2022 in most ways and is easy to test the new release candidate of prior to it being an actual release. The IDE and eco system really works for me and the IDE also works the same on Windows as it does on a Mac so it is less jarring to change platforms. Vs Mac was a whole other level of pain and really, really was not good ever.