Here's how the Pro vs. Con RB debate typically plays out. See the reviews below.

Pro RB: It's so easy! C is HARD! RealBasic is EASY!!

Anti RB: Feature X doesn't work, and hasn't since version x.x. My apps get slower with every update. I have to pay for updates that do nothing but fix bugs. You have to download (and possibly pay for) plugins from a dozen different sources in order to write any kind of fully featured application. You also have to hope the developers of those plugins continue to maintain them for future RB versions, or else you won't be able to build your project anymore.

Pro RB: But it's so EASY!

Anti RB: You can use Apple's tools, spend a day or so learning Objective-C or Java and get much better results, for FREE. Or get CodeWarrior and the ability to develop multi-platform apps for not much more than RealBasic.

Pro RB: But RB lets me write programs so FAST! I don't want to learn yucky C or Java! They're HARD! RB is EASY!

I think it's clear which class of developers has a deeper understanding of the product. The first may even be the second in time. I used RB since the early pre 1.0 versions were on the MacAddict CD, up to about RB 4.0. I eventually got tired of not being able to trust my development environment, of never knowing if something wasn't working because of *my* code, or if it just wasn't supposed to work in this particular version. The RB mailing list used to regularly feature discussions of which alpha had the best combination of features and bugs. "X is broken in a19, but a18 doesn't have Y, so use a19." Being forced to use prerelease builds of your IDE is not a very good way to develop software.

Anyway, I wasted 15 minutes writing this review. Xcode is waiting.