History of Texas Instruments fails (TI versus community)

b/Calculator Talk publicado por u/Dream of Omnimaga August 11, 2015, 04:48:07 AM

History of Texas Instruments fails (TI versus community)

To lighten the mood up and laugh, here is a topic compiling some of TI's notable mishaps during their relations with the TI community or even their customers in the past decades:

1998: "The TI-Files site used the TI-Files name until late 1998 when they were forced to change it to Ti-Files by Texas Instruments. TI claimed that they were cyber-squatting with their TI-Files name and http://www.ti-files.org site URL because people could confuse them with the actual TI website (i.e., http://www.ti.com)." - Source: TI-Story http://tistory.wikidot.com/ti-files

2000: TI-News asked by TI to change their names (granted, they were also distributing ROMs, but the name change request was questionable: http://www.ticalc.org/archives/news/articles/4/40/40306.html

2002: TI blocks distribution of their flash unlocking routine (I guess they had a point since it was copyrighted code from their TI-OS but still... look at how long it took before flash unlocking became common on 83+ calcs afterward) http://www.detachedsolutions.com/forum/index.php/mv/msg/240/0/0/

2007: Nspire release with basically no viable programming capabilities

2009: TI-83+ RSA signing keys controversy (DMCA takedown notices) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Texas_Instruments_signing_key_controversy

Early 2010: TI sends C&D to TI-BANK for distributing OS 1.1. While they had a point, the fact they did not ask them to remove other Nspire OSes from their servers and that Ndless only worked on 1.1 at the time made TI's actions look like an attack against Ndless: https://tiplanet.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=29&t=5291&sid=1442b18d0b86fed1953fd1e8f2ac4677#p83514

2010: TI adds anti-downgrade protection to TI-Nspire OS 2.1 (the first ever): https://www.omnimaga.org/news/nspire-2-1-out-don't-install-it!/ (this one even made Slashdot) and the OS releases allegedly violates the BSD license: https://tiplanet.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=17&t=6132

July 2010: TI gets Critor's Facebook account suspended for posting his opinion against the OS 2.1 anti-downgrade protection on TI-France Facebook page. https://www.omnimaga.org/news/nspire-2-1-out-don't-install-it!/msg103858/#msg103858 . Several comments are also censored on their FB page

2011: TI blocks downgrades on TI-84+ and TI-84+SE http://www.omnimaga.org/news/new-ti-84-pocket-adds-anti-downgrade-protection-against-2-53mp-and-lower/

2013: TI goes as far as changing the Nspire CX hardware to block downgrades: https://www.omnimaga.org/news/new-ti-nspire-cx-boot2-antidowngrade-protection-blocks-ndless-nlaunch/

2015: TI blocks third-party flash apps on the 84+CE (thank god we can at least run Asm())

2015: TI blocks ASM entirely on their new TI-82 Advanced (which is based on the 84+SE)

No particular year: The many TI-84+/CSE/CE bugs dating all the way back in 1996 from the 83 OS and some trivial CSE bugs still present in the CE OSes.

No particular year: TI-CARES service (considered so bad that it's often nicknamed TI-DOESN'T-CARE.

I wonder if you remember anything that I might have missed?

EDIT: Satire/parody/April fools news posted in response to the incidents above (or other ones):

April Fools 2010: Omnimaga gets DMCA'ed for using TI fonts in its logo: http://www.omnimaga.org/news/ti-sends-dmca-takedown-notice-to-omnimaga-for-key-font-usage/ (parody of 84+ Signing key controversy)

April Fools 2011: 84+ OS 2.71MP https://www.omnimaga.org/news/84-plus-os-2-71mp-leaked-the-beginning-of-the-end-of-ti-84-programming/ (parody of TI-Nspire anti-downgrade)

August 2011: TI redesigns entire calculator line: http://www.omnimaga.org/news/texas-instruments-redesigns-entire-graphing-calculator-line/ (they totally fscked up their calc comparison chart that Summer.)

Last Edit: November 07, 2015, 09:01:03 AM by DJ Omnimaga

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u/Unicorn August 11, 2015, 04:53:04 AM

Wow, thats quite a list of TI trying to restrict the community. Hopefully they don't contonue on this path.

u/princetonlion.tibd August 11, 2015, 10:12:41 AM

Then TI stops producing calcs, trying to force to community to die

Theoretical situation

They forgot the V200 in 2011?!

Last Edit: August 11, 2015, 10:14:51 AM by princetonlion.tibd

u/novenary August 11, 2015, 11:37:23 AM

Quote from: DJ Omnimaga on August 11, 2015, 04:48:07 AM
No particular year: The many TI-84+/CSE/CE bugs dating all the way back in 1996 from the 83 OS and some trivial CSE bugs still present in the CE OSes.

Add to that the bugs in the Nspire cas that remain from the TI-92.

u/Dream of Omnimaga August 11, 2015, 03:26:07 PM

Haha yeah the Nspire bugs. Also I forgot to mention their july 2010 attempt at discontinuing the 84+SE which was seen as an indication that the 84+ and 83+ were next. This incident generated public outcry in the community.

u/utz August 11, 2015, 03:41:20 PM

1981: TI releases the 99/4A home computer. Despite being far ahead of its time (it was in fact the first 16-bit home computer), it was discontinued after only 2 years. Why? TI reserved the exclusive right to publish software for the machine, and they released virtually no tech documentation on it whatsoever. Leaving aside a few minor design flaws, this is probably the main reason for the ultimate failure of the machine. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TI_99/4A#Lack_of_third-party_development

u/novenary August 11, 2015, 03:44:56 PM

Wow that sounds really stupid.

u/Vogtinator August 11, 2015, 04:08:06 PM

Quote2013: TI goes as far as changing the Nspire CX hardware to block downgrades: https://www.omnimaga.org/news/new-ti-nspire-cx-boot2-antidowngrade-protection-blocks-ndless-nlaunch/

I doubt that that was intentional. Yes, there is no downgrade protection for boot2 (which could in theory result in a brick that is not easy to repair, even for TI),
but it was only several weeks until HW-J was sold. If HW-J was a reaction to nLaunch, it would've taken at least three months, for testing alone. Also, boot1 is the same.

u/Dream of Omnimaga August 11, 2015, 05:36:46 PM

It depends. If they decided to devote their entire resources just to block nLaunch for 1 week, couldn't it be possible?

u/Adriweb August 11, 2015, 05:55:01 PM

"1 week" ?

Absolutely not for hardware level things (not even technically possible), and extremely unlikely for software level things (but technically possible).
TI is big, and they have a whole process from dev to release; it takes time.

Removing an update, for instance, could be done quickly. But pushing another [new] one? No, not that quickly.

Last Edit: August 11, 2015, 05:59:28 PM by Adriweb