Don't worry, it's safe

[Deep Toaster]

Seeing how many people are talking about how TI might get rid of (or reduce) Lua support in their upcoming Nspire OS update, just thought I'd put everyone's mind at ease. I'm almost certain TI will leave Lua intact on the Nspires for a couple reasons:

• They clearly spent a lot of time integrating it. It takes quite some work to make a full interpreter for any language, and Lua's no exception. TI's interpreter is also decently complete, as seen by all those game possibilities people are throwing around and making real.
• They've already released it to the public. It would be pretty bad for their reputation to take it away -- it always happens when you give someone something good, then take it away suddenly.
• This is only the first OS version to support Lua. If TI takes it away after having just one OS support it (and a broken one at that), they would have wasted all their time and resources making this interpreter.
• They have used it themselves. The only reason we even found out about Lua functionality was because TI released a dynamic periodic table program that obviously used some scripting language. TI may even be working on more. Taking away Lua support would render all these useless.
• It's good for their market. Lua support means the same thing that flash apps did for the TI-83 Plus: it creates functionality that allows you do do more (science, maths included ) that you couldn't do in just the OS. They're extensions, almost. And that opens up a whole world of possibilities, which consumers know.
• Games. Even if TI doesn't want to admit it, it's pretty obvious that one thing consumers (specifically students) look for in a calculator is the ability to play games in class. TI wouldn't want to ruin that completely, or risk losing market share to other companies (like Casio's Prizm, on which C and ASM is already possible).

Hope that settles it. Don't worry

[JosJuice]

They clearly spent a lot of time integrating it. It takes quite some work to make a full interpreter for any language, and Lua's no exception. TI's interpreter is also decently complete, as seen by all those game possibilities people are throwing around and making real.

What if they just make sure that all documents are properly encrypted instead of removing the interpreter? It seems likely, and it would allow TI to use Lua but not us.

They've already released it to the public. It would be pretty bad for their reputation to take it away -- it always happens when you give someone something good, then take it away suddenly.

It's TI.

This is only the first OS version to support Lua. If TI takes it away after having just one OS support it (and a broken one at that), they would have wasted all their time and resources making this interpreter.
They have used it themselves. The only reason we even found out about Lua functionality was because TI released a dynamic periodic table program that obviously used some scripting language. TI may even be working on more. Taking away Lua support would render all these useless.

Once again: They don't have to completely remove it to make it impossible for us to use it.

It's good for their market. Lua support means the same thing that flash apps did for the TI-83 Plus: it creates functionality that allows you do do more (science, maths included ) that you couldn't do in just the OS. They're extensions, almost. And that opens up a whole world of possibilities, which consumers know.
Games. Even if TI doesn't want to admit it, it's pretty obvious that one thing consumers (specifically students) look for in a calculator is the ability to play games in class. TI wouldn't want to ruin that completely, or risk losing market share to other companies (like Casio's Prizm, on which C and ASM is already possible).

You're right... But as usual, TI is stupid, and that's hard to change.

[JustCause]

Deep Thought, you make some very good points and I hope you're right.

[Freyaday]

Very assauging, Deep Thought. I hope you're right.

[Deep Toaster]

What if they just make sure that all documents are properly encrypted instead of removing the interpreter? It seems likely, and it would allow TI to use Lua but not us.

Eh, true, but then why wouldn't they just make those docs a part of the OS?

[jnesselr]

They've already released it to the public. It would be pretty bad for their reputation to take it away -- it always happens when you give someone something good, then take it away suddenly.

Like SONY!

[JosJuice]

What if they just make sure that all documents are properly encrypted instead of removing the interpreter? It seems likely, and it would allow TI to use Lua but not us.

Eh, true, but then why wouldn't they just make those docs a part of the OS?

Because they're TI. They can't think at all.
And what if they would release new docs in the future? It would be pointless to create an OS update every time that happens.

[DJ Omnimaga]

My worry is if TI adds an encryption method preventing custom Lua files from being executed, because they did the exact same thing with regular tns documents in OS 3.0.1. Now anything generated by mViewer for example won't run in OS 3.0.1.

[willrandship]

Graph, Sony had a good reason to remove OtherOS. It was seriously losing them money. The real solution, IMO, would be to sell the PS3 for what it was really worth, rather than counting on the games, but hey, not my problem.

[DJ Omnimaga]

Yeah IMHO the PS3 is really overpriced. People use the blu-ray player excuse for the price, but you can get a blu-ray player for $49.95 at Walmart during sales. There's no way that $299.99 for a console half a decade after it came out is justified. A lot of people get the PS3 for the games and will not really care about the blu-ray excuse. That said, now M$ forces us to buy the 360 with the kinect included, so now the Xbox is overpriced too...

But judging by everything TI did in the past 2 years, I wouldn't be surprised if they tried to run another anti-hobbyist stunt eventually, like encrypted Lua files (which would require them to release a new version of their Periodic Table) and  stronger anti-downgrade protection that cannot be removed with TNOC.

[willrandship]

No, at its release the PS3 was selling for less than Blu-ray players, Now it's selling for ~$30 under the individual part cost. it's really, really cheap. It's got an amazing CPU and GPU in there. It is very justified, but they counted on games to make up for it. OtherOS gave a reason to buy consoles without games, so they removed it.

[DJ Omnimaga]

What? Blu-Rays used to cost $700?

But still, even if it got a strong CPU/GPU, people were always used to consoles being about $150-200 4 years after launch. I am pretty sure the $299.99 price turns some people away, even if the GPU/CPU are stronger. ALso the game choices don't help. If you are a RPG fan, for example, good luck finding at least 20 on that console.

[JosJuice]

That said, now M$ forces us to buy the 360 with the kinect included, so now the Xbox is overpriced too...

wtf

encrypted Lua files (which would require them to release a new version of their Periodic Table)

Nope, it's already 0D-compressed. It's correctly compressed.

[willrandship]

DJ, you can get PS3s for $250, and that's as much as the Wii cost at launch.

@JosJuice, nothing stops them from simply adding one more layer.

And the kinect, I want one....no xbox, just the kinect.

[DJ Omnimaga]

Willrandship not here. The lowest I ever seen for a PS3 where I live is $299.99.