[calcs] Guys... do NOT upgrade to OS 3.9.1 if you find it or get asked to!

u/Dream of Omnimaga December 30, 2014, 01:48:07 AM

Quote from: Streetwalrus on December 29, 2014, 08:16:36 PM
Hmm yeah, I'm definitely bothered by this and if it turns out to be anything, I'm dropping the Nspire for good. We've had enough.

Same for me, although I'll still try people's games if they come out. That said, it's not like I ever released anything for that calc anyway. If I release anything it will most likely use KuroRPG assuming it's not Chinese-only.

That said, if TI really pulls such stunt and intentionally bricks people's calcs as a punishment for trying to install Ndless or nLaunchy on them, then they will have to get rid of this script soon afterward because they would probably get into legal trouble in certain countries.

u/Duke "Tape" Eiyeron December 30, 2014, 08:19:46 AM

Seriously? That way of acting looks like a dictators' actions : to start with you can't do everything you want and now you have oppression by fear or threats...

Actually I'm sure they could let the self-destruction under the responsibility of the user because it wasn't intended to be activated by any normal use of the calc. You say that's illegal everywhere but that doesn't stop the companies to overuse programmed obsolescence.

u/Dream of Omnimaga December 30, 2014, 04:40:29 PM

Something I suspect is that this message might either be an easter egg that does nothing, just to scare us into not using nLaunchy/Ndless. This could just be a scare tactic to make developers say "Hey maybe we should avoid making Ndless for this OS, just in case". Or it could be just a routine that will attempt to destroy Ndless/nLaunchy if it's detected, by attempting to uninstall them, not necessarily something to brick the calc.

But yeah, this is is pretty scary indeed.

u/novenary December 30, 2014, 08:20:36 PM

Quote from: Eiyeron on December 30, 2014, 08:19:46 AM
Seriously? That way of acting looks like a dictators' actions : to start with you can't do everything you want and now you have oppression by fear or threats...

Actually I'm sure they could let the self-destruction under the responsibility of the user because it wasn't intended to be activated by any normal use of the calc. You say that's illegal everywhere but that doesn't stop the companies to overuse programmed obsolescence.

In most countries, it's perfectly legal to hack around with the hardware you paid for. That's called fair use.
I also know that US law even encourages reverse engineering legally acquired hw and software.

u/Dream of Omnimaga December 30, 2014, 09:47:47 PM

Indeed. And in Quebec, while I don't know about fair use laws, I know that if you purchase a product, it's supposed to work as advertised and if there is nothing specifying on the package that installing third-party software will trigger a self destruct sequence or the like, then it's supposed to work for as long as the hardware allows it. Nothing works forever, but if you buy a calculator and its internal software self-destructs 3 days after purchase then you are entitled for a refund/exchange if you still have the receipt, unless the package warned that such software can self-destruct if it detects unauthorized software installs..

u/novenary December 30, 2014, 10:42:08 PM

In which case no one would buy the hardware in the first place.

u/Dream of Omnimaga December 30, 2014, 10:44:40 PM

Not really. 99% of the Nspire users could care less about 3rd-party softwares, since they only buy the calc because their school only allows that calc (very common in USA) or they don't care about calc games. What sucks, though, is that they miss out on very valuable add-ons like Nover, MicroPython and nPDF.