Who wrote it?

Well, since TI is asking for money for the APP, I'd assume they wrote it.

The question might have been facetious.

ti has often outsourced app developement to the some asm community members. they particurally like ACZ members, so Vejita might have had some involvement.

Hehe, I was being honest.

Factually, I did write a version, probably the same version as it's from the same spec I'm sure, but we never finished that particular contract so they never got the working source from me.

So, I was wondering who wrote it.

Does TI actually pay people to use their software? (Puzzpack, for example)

What do you mean, use their software?

Any PuzzPack isn't theirs, it is Detached Solutions.

Do you mean "*make* their software"?

why would anyone pay for a flash app for a calculator...

See MichaelV's comments above

why wouldn't you?

For example, Command Post, a flash app that is due to be released very soon took me a bare minimum of 100 hours of time to piece together.
Now, if you get CP by license for free, I've lost a lot of money on that venture. Assuming I was paid around 15 dollars per hour for it (and i believe that 15/hr is low for a professional quality app written by someone who knows his way around calcs) that app is worth between $750 and $4000 (i think i spent about 2 hours a day for 2 months)! In other words, I would have to sell 540 copies at $5 apiece to break even.

I'm sure many of the 'good' programs/games/whatever out there would have similar prices attached to them if the developers asked to be compensated for their work...

-Greg

Well, since you *aren't* charging for your app, technically you would have to sell 0 copies at $5 to break even. "Breaking even" means you spent money to develop the program. In your case, it's all profit. Even if it did take you 100 hours to make, you still spent no actual money making it.

I disagree. it costs me quite a bit of money to program for these calculators... ie the calculators, the internet connection, the computer, link cables, and my website all cost money not to mention the electricity and battery bills ;)

What is the difference if a programmer wasn't paid by a company to create a program? Just because a company did not directly pay him/her to develop a program, doesn't mean it is worthless. You seem to be flying in the face of small businesses owned and operated by one or two people... If GForce Programming made it, you seem to think it didn't cost them anything (and therefore 100% profit), but if Microsoft made and sold it?

Anyway, i seriously doubt that someone could make a living (or a profit for that matter) writting for calculators unless TI hired them.

See link. Interesting read, if you have time.

>The word ``free'' in ``free software'' refers to
>freedom, not to price
yay :)

anyway, I am much more apt to spend time on projects that can help pay for my college education - for instance, i am currently being paid to develop a website and that definately takes precidense over things that are similar in nature, but lack in the area of a wage...

-Greg

Yea, I wondered if you'd notice that.

However, I plan to contribute to a project or two on sourceforge.net or mozdev.org in order to help build a resume for when I get out of college--my parents are paying for most of college.

For those saying "What's the point when you can get a BA II?", what's the use of people who port programs?
The answer is so that you can use the functions on what you have. It's also a marketing strategy, which appears to make the App more 'handy' by letting users 'upgrade' their 83+ with the special functions instead of buying a BA II.
This is just another point to ponder.

Also, I just noticed, if you look at the BA II, it doesn't seem nearly as visually appealing as a 83+ SE. There's marketing for you.

That's what they did with the voyager 200. It's basically a TI-92+ with a few extra features (the clock is the main one) and a different look and name.

alright, i was going to remain silent on this issue till someone brought it to my attention. GIVE MICHEAL VINECENT A CHANCE!
this is to be included in a petitiononline petition by rctparothead
"Recently, Michael Vincent was hired at http://www.ticalc.org , a large and very popular calculator site, as a news editor. There were a few people who disagreed with this, and posted a protest on the ticalc.org message boards. These posts shorly afterwards deleted by Michael Vincent. If you read the posting rules at ticalc.org, nowhere does it say that you can't protest something. Granted, the post was a bit disrespectful. But Mr. Vincent considered it to be off-topic and deleted it. This is considered biased and tyrannical by many people. If you go to his personal site, http://www.michaelv.org and browse around a bit, he has said that he has recently lost interest in calculators, he calls holidays an evil of society that distracts lazy people from doing their work, and has even called girls evil by using algebra. We feel that this sexist, biased, emotionless tyrant has abused his power enough in two days of being "in office" and should not be allowed to be a moderator/news editor at ticalc.org."

I believe that he is needed more then TWO days to see if he is any good, making rash judgments such as this will not help you, micheal, the part about delteing protest posts, i can agree that was out of line, but.. peoples reaction to it is horrible... it would seem as a collected evil of the people, being rash of judgment and of unreasonable mentality, in the end, JUST GIVE HIM A CHANCE

another example of this rashness is the fact that after i posted this, rctparothead warned me on aim to 15% just because i spoke my opinion just like him... this just shows that some people need to grow up ad f*ck off

The problem with what Michael did is that it is a really bad sign for the future. He deleted those posts within only a couple hours of them being posted. I'm sure that mose people here would agree with me that even if a post is off-topic, they should have a chance to see what it says before it is deleted. I didn't. I wasn't able to read the posts because I had a class to go to. All I knew is that by the time I got back, the post count on the front page went down by 13 or 14. I was, to say the least, a little shocked by this. Maybe if Michael uses more moderation - for example, give a post at least a day on the site before you delete it - I wouldn't find this decision to be so rash. However, if this is indicative of future moderating trends, then I'd have to agree that it was a bit abusive to delete something so quickly. Besides, from the one post I did see, the only 'abusive' thing that broke any rules was the phease "WTF MAN U SUCK", which was a repetition of what someone said earlier.

I think any public opinion about Michael's work should at least be founded on, you know, the work he does here. Since there isn't a whole lot of that right now, I'd like to kindly and humbly request that people decist from forming angry mobs and building trebuchets for at least long enough to get an idea of how Michael's going to function here.

Please keep in mind that it took a good five or six months for me to really get into the swing of things as news editor here, and that such a transitory period should be expected in this case also.

We hired Michael because of his eloquence and his impressive knowledge of the current scene. I'd like to ask that all of you give him an opportunity to demonstrate that ability; one that we've obviously seen and recognized in our hiring him. You gave it to me and you gave it to Eric, so I see no reason why the same shouldn't take place here.

And finally, as somebody who has a steady girlfriend, I can state with absolute veracity that girls are evil. Objectively evil. I'm sure at least one girl that visits this site can back me up on this one. :)

well, u and eric never did anything so rash as to delete protest posts.

While I cannot speak for Nick, and can't remember who exactly did it, there certianly have been controversy regarding deletion of comments on these boards before. There have been discussions for months about that. In the end, we came up with what was a working level. It certainly takes a while to get a good grasp of that level. Before we all did that, there were daily complaints about either too much being deleted, or not enough being deleted.

It may or may not have been incorrect to remove that comment. I don't know exactly, because I don't remember what it said. I do remember reacting to that it was off-topic, and basically shrugging it off with a "lots of posts nowadays are off-topic". But please try to remember that so far this is a fairly isolated incident. Instead of just complaning, how about being constructive? I'm sure Michael is capable of changing the level of moderation in order to suit the community.

I agree with those before who have said give hime some time to get settled in. If you have specific, constructive, comments on the level of moderation or other such things, news@ticalc.org is the address to contact. That goes to Michael, but also to others not-so-active news editors (for example Nickd).

Based on this incident, I plan to tone down the moderation. I'm going to do it less often to allow people a chance to read all posted comments. Also, regarding off-topic posts, I won't delete them if they are somewhat related. For example, there's a post that does nothing more but ask something along the lines of "What's IIRC mean?". Posts that aren't directly related but still are meaningful will be kept. Also, keep in perspective that only two people are doing the complaining.

That sounds good to me. I think if we have a problem with the moderation, we should go about it in a more constructive way. (by the way, if anyone wants to know, it was me who asked what "IIRC" means ;-))

Oh btw, nice dancing pic :)

To be honest, this site isn't really that important enough to form a formal complain comity and write up formal complains and such. Especially not worth all that time taken away from development or anything else.

So, that's something also to keep in perspective on both ends. Not everyone complains who might have feelings but then again not everything is really a problem.

Don't get so overwhelmed that you think something is a brand new idea specifically meant to topple a single person or thing. This kind of stuff has been going on for a long time.

Community support isn't meant to be taken as community leadership and disciplinary roles but as an attaction point and a way to keep the community focussed and up-to-date.

So, good luck and you shouldn't need it if you think of yourself as also part of the community you're trying to help :) Calculator enthusiast or not.

Yes, they are evil. In their own special little ways. :-p

But I want a trebuchet--thought not necessarily to hurt Michael. Michael's posting news. And during the period when there was no news and I scrolled through the comments, I stopped to read when I saw his name, among a few others.

i will reiterate
my stance on this issue is neutral, I DO NOT SUPPORT/SUPPORT MICHAEL AT THIS TIME. I AM COMPLEATLY NEUTRAL ON THIS ISSUE. my speaking out was that of commons sense. not support.

> I DO NOT SUPPORT/SUPPORT MICHAEL AT THIS TIME

That's not neutral......

i meant i do not (not support)/(support) as in i dont do both

I figured that was what you meant, but you left out a 'not'.

And lord_nightrose says I have no sense of humor...That part about the girls? (http://michaelv.org/ideas/girls.php) It's a joke. Same with the essay about holidays. He should try reading A Modest Proposal by Jonathan Swift. Please, no more arguments in this thread, since I can't move posts. You should post this in the article about me being hired, since it'd be more on-topic there.

I have read A Modest Proposal. Very disturbing, but funny if you don't take it seriously.

Oh... wait. Now I get it. *slap*

Oh, I get it :) Did you make that up?

>>> You should post this in the article about me being hired...

Usually people only read the current article, and if he were to post something in an older article, chances are, nobody would see it.

http://www.petitiononline.com/mvincent/

hehe, signed.

Now for something on-topic.

Figure out which coder write Advanced Finance and tell me :)

Signed too.

By the way, why the evil laugh? Are you going to go and kill whoever wrote the app? Then steal the source and release it on the ticalc.org website?

haha, no need, I already wrote it once, i want to see who wrote their version. same spec.

You should get a binary of your version and release it for free.

Probably won't work since you have to go through TI to get a binary, but it's worth a try.