Ndless and TI

[timedia]

Why Is TI so against ndless?

[parrotgeek1]

Because, theoretically, it could be used to cheat on tests (exit exam mode, etc.). No one has publicly made a program that does that, though.

Also, installing CAS on non-CAS makes them less money, but almost 3/4 of what they make on their calculators is pure profit, so I don't care at all. They're too big of a monopoly.

[Lionel Debroux]

Part of the issue has to do with the standardized exam testing regulators. From what they mandate, we can gather that these people have strange ideas, some of which clearly run counter to the goal of maximizing mankind's progress (by dumbing down tests and locking down platform capabilities), and some their actions scream of technical incompetence, technical illiteracy and fantasizing about "cheating".
Nevertheless, most of all, these handfuls of persons have the power to shape and veto calculators, and therefore manufacturers' profit selling said calculators... In some countries, forbidding some calculator models after users have bought and used them (an unlikely possibility, because the "adequate for exam X" mention may be binding) might even open the manufacturers or exam regulators to lawsuits.

As a result of flawed directives, manufacturers try to please these persons, otherwise financial harm might ensue, in extremely unlikely cases. Pleasing these persons apparently includes showing them that the manufacturers are doing, well, something about the dreaded "cheating" - and since arbitrary code execution (ACE) holes, which Ndless exploits, usually lets people do whatever they want on a platform, it would theoretically enable cheating, and manufacturers need to show their true customers (the regulators, not the end users) that they're fixing holes. Hence, TI is against Ndless. Doing a good job preventing ACE is clearly not a requirement from the regulators, considering how poor of a job manufacturers are collectively making.
People usually behave and seldom release tools whose main, or sole aim, is cheating; nevertheless, in the past, despite the community being kind to TI, there was one too many time TI closed down a useful hole (after OS 3.1.0.392), which triggered some examination on the Nspire's PTT code... revealing how weak it was, and yielding the immediate production of multiple independent PTT killer programs. These programs were censored from the TI community's websites - not that the moderators necessarily did it with a smile, but they had to do it, because helping people cheat is usually considered a bad thing.

Manufacturers' best protection against user malice is that few people care about calculators and doing low-level stuff with these severely overpriced platforms showing (very) poor hardware characteristics - and that people from the community who are knowledgeable enough to do stuff considered bad by the manufacturer and exam regulators usually don't do it, or don't release it.

Ndless itself does nothing about cheating, it's a framework for running programs. Technically, there could be cheating programs not based on Ndless at all, by exploiting other holes.