Re: A89: Re: Re: Re: Re: Grayscale troubles
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Re: A89: Re: Re: Re: Re: Grayscale troubles
Huh... My school must be abnormal then. (what else is new?) At my school,
Joe Average TI-89 user bought his (no girls have them) because 1. They can
cheat on tests and homework with it, and 2. They can play cool games on it
during math class. Personally, I bought mine for math purposes, not to
cheat, and I didn't even know about the games. For the other calculators,
though, you're right (next TI will come out with a calc with no Radian mode
so as not to confuse Joe Average :-) I guess my school is abnormal though,
because we don't have any classes that require a graphing calculator except
AP Calculus (8-10 students a year, and the only AP class offered at our
school.)
James Darpinian
----- Original Message -----
From: Robin Kirkman <misty@drrobin.yi.org>
To: <assembly-89@lists.ticalc.org>
Sent: Friday, August 04, 2000 6:08 PM
Subject: Re: A89: Re: Re: Re: Re: Grayscale troubles
>
> Sorry that I have to say it, but games have little to nothing to do with
> calculator purchase for Joe Average. Joe gets a TI-83 (Maybe a Plus if
he's
> feeling extravagant) because his teacher says so. Joe throws away the
manual.
> Joe is amazed that the TI-83 can do such amazing things as have an
'Equation
> Solver'. Joe doesn't understand the math that their being presented with
in the
> courses either; Joe just copies it down and memorizes it.
>
> How many people on this list are Joe Average? I know that I, personally,
bought
> a TI-89 because of the amazingly powerfull math. I was awestruck. It's let
me
> play around with a lot of things I couldn't have done before, and there is
very
> little I don't know about the things it does (That TI has provided,
anyways. I
> don't mess around in programming it much).
>
> Joe Average, on the other hand, doesn't know what to do when his
calculator is
> in Radian mode and sin(60) gets him something bizzarre.
>
> So why on earth does Joe have a TI-83? Because his teacher says so. The
teacher
> doesn't necessarily understand them either (mine doesn't) but a TI-83 is
what
> has been reccommended to them. Teacher has a printout of keystrokes that
the
> TI-83 has for special occasions.
>
> So you see, teachers are the main reason that TI sells calculators to
students.
> That's why TI acts as if the gaming community doesn't exist; The
percentage of
> people who buy their calculator because of -gaming capability- is so
miniscule
> that it is cheaper for TI to disregard them then to cooperate.
>
> That clear things up a bit?
> --robin
>
> James Darpinian wrote:
> >
> > What do you mean, they don't sell their calculators to students? They
most
> > certainly market their calculators to students! If they only marketed
to
> > teachers, they'd only sell calcs in Nasco and other teacher stores.
They
> > love it when teachers buy their calculators, but they depend on the
student
> > market as well. And for the student market, grayscale is a big plus.
TI
> > may not want to admit it, but they know as well as we do that our games
are
> > a reason some people buy their calculators. About half the people at my
> > school who own TI-89s bought them partly because of the games. TI can't
> > ignore that kind of power. Also, why would teachers turn to another
> > calculator just because TI provided grayscale? Most teachers don't
follow
> > the calculator gaming scene, so they probably wouldn't even know if TI
> > released info that made grayscale faster. There are games available for
the
> > other brands of graphing calculators too, so teachers couldn't just
switch
> > to a brand with no games.
> >
> > James Darpinian
> >
> > ----- Original Message -----
> > From: M. Adam Davis <adavis@ubasics.com>
> > To: <assembly-89@lists.ticalc.org>
> > Sent: Friday, August 04, 2000 11:44 AM
> > Subject: Re: A89: Re: Re: Re: Re: Grayscale troubles
> >
> > >
> > > TI's main (and only) market for these calculators is the educational
> > market.
> > > They sell their calculators to teachers and school decision makers,
THEY
> > DON'T
> > > SELL CALCULATORS TO STUDENTS. They sell the teachers on them, and the
> > teachers
> > > then specify them. For each teacher who knows how to teach with a TI
> > > calculator, TI has a dedicated sale of 80 - 500 calculators/year.
> > >
> > > If TI openly provides an easy way to use grayscale, many teachers will
> > turn to
> > > another calulator, or not teach with one at all. Therefore it is not
in
> > their
> > > best interest (financially) to do so.
> > >
> > > The fact that TI can sell the TI-89 for as little as it does is only
> > becaus eof
> > > the volume they sell these things in. Were they to allow game
programming
> > (ie,
> > > grayscale) then their market would drop so much that they wouldn't be
> > worth
> > > their time to build them.
> > >
> > > -Adam
> > >
> > > PsyKaBek@aol.com wrote:
> > > >
> > > > Why wouldnt Ti want grayscale?
> > > >
> > > > -Kent
> > >
>
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