(I apologize beforehand for any bad G.U.M. mistakes, the over-abundance of smilies, and/or any insults that may be considered one in my post. [This post was kind of rushed to get it posted on 1/1/11!] If you are insulted by this post, please speak to me personally, and I will clarify my intentions and apologize. Thank you! -Albert)

First and foremost, happy new year to everyone! I wish you a happy and happy 2011!

Now to the topic - so you've heard about the POTY results, and not everyone's happy with it.
However, if you looked a bit more closely, you would've seen a pattern. It's not about Omnimaga and Cemetech - it's about the community in general. Who actually voted in this year's POTY? Only the people in Omnimaga and Cemetech, who comprise of mostly developers. And another fact: around <100 people actually voted in the POTY. And if you look at the stats, it has steadily decreased year by year.

So what are the causes?
For one, lack of interest in calculators, since there are plenty of other "portable" distractions (for instance, iPods). Basically, people don't really want to play around with their calcs anymore - they have something else that is more "fancy" to play with.

Second, the release of "interesting" things has significantly decreased in the years.... whose cause is something I'm about to describe. How many significant advancements have you seen released? The POTY winners are great, but there was a time (early 2000-2006) where there were tons of activity. (Not that this year didn't have awesome releases, but it wasn't as much as before.) Now? It's fizzing away slooowwwwlllyyyyyy.....

So what's the 3rd cause? People. To be precise, generations. The first generation was a big wave of developers and users... replaced by the second, and then... not replaced? I'm not saying that you should worry about leaving or something, but there will be a day in which you wake up and say, "I'm tired of this and need to get moving on my life." (Or "I'm way too busy, and I need to focus on my studies!" I've had that vision already, and I won't give it up yet - possibly in my senior year at HS.) It's bound to happen. If you are that person, please finish up your major projects first! Then you can continue your life - and I wish you good luck in your future endeavors.

In the end, what I'm trying to say is that there's a dearth of users and programmers... and we need more! We have to gather more people, but also adjust ourselves to the modern world.

So the question is... how do we fix it?

I propose a dynamic change - more or less improvements on top of our community and calc.

1. Get people!!!
Do you see a person who programs on their calc? Bring them here! Give them a connecting cable (if TI-83 or less), and get them here! If you know a developer who doesn't touch the calculator, but is awesome at programming, introduce them to the calculator, and bring them here! We need creative, smart developers in the community - people do come and go, and we need more guys who have talent to fill the gap! Hire people of all ages - younger ones are best, since they (obviously) have a lot longer to go before graduation. Oh, and better yet, tell the new hires to pass on the tradition too when time comes - tell them to find potential developers, and get them in!

2. Go wireless!
One of the things people hate is wired things, especially for communication. So why not do the same for calcs? Wireless linking... and wifi access is definitely a goal for this year, made closer with CalcNET and C2I!

3. App Store
Simply, a central center for downloading and installing programs. Very few people go to ticalc.org; why not bring it to them directly on the calculator? Obviously, the previous goal will be needed for this to occur. Now obviously, we're against closed systems, right? This system will probably follow the Debian way - i.e., having a central and external sources to install from. That opens up opportunities for Omnimaga and Cemetech to have their own software available for everyone to download! Of course, the external repositories will be featured on ticalc.org for people to easily add as well.

The protocol will be open and easy to implement - open source is a must in this kind of environment, allowing easier deployment and higher distribution of awesome programs and apps!

Existing installer technologies (souvik's Installer, Iambian's Athena, and my [non-existent] InstallMe) will probably be used in implementing it.

4. Centralized but everywhere
Central is the key eh? It applies to communities too! I propose that ticalc does a minor redesign for the majority of the users so that it's easy to find and download things, and better yet, review/rate too! (And hopefully a good review team too!) Also, a central forum would allow new users to find new people and programs! Any existing communities are linked, and can exist separately - may be like "teams"!

5. Easy to use
The interface has to be easy to use. No questions asked! A community effort to create a very user friendly shell may be needed in the future. (This depends on time, Axe's features, and the availability of GIF animation software for mock-ups.)

6. Social
As part of the calculator -> internet initiative, it's time to hop on the social train too! Achievements can be posted to Facebook, making gaming on the calculator much more favorable than an iPod!

7. Stronger community
I'm really looking forward to a stronger community this year. They don't have to be together, but they can work together! I'm looking forward to less bickering between peers (none of the craziness of last year), stronger collaboration, and (hopefully) more people and tech!

Forgive and forget the past - who knows? If you are feeling generous, unban past problematic people and invite them back in!

Conclusion
Wow.... that's a lot to look forward to for 2011! A new year means new things - new habits, new ideas, new everything! It's a tough road, but there's lots of technology out there! KermM's CalcNET (and future gCn), some wireless things I'm trying to make, and C2I (calc 2 internet, which is a project collaboration with graphmastur) are part of the things that will support the future. However, there's another thing too - YOU. Our communities are crucial for this to happen. They DON'T have to be together... but they do have to work together. In the end, I hope for an awesome 2011! (And again, happy new year to everyone!)

I conclude my conclusion with a quote:

disregard this post

A small point: gCn isn't future, it's now. In a few minutes I'll have worked out the kinks in a piece of code I'm working on at the moment and the first CALCnet2.2 calculator in history will announce itself to a gCn virtual hub running on a server a half-dozen miles away. I appreciate the thought process that went into your post, but let me address it point by point, and probably go back and read it more carefully later.

1) I certainly agree that people should make efforts to bring in new developers, but I feel that this already happens to some extent.

2) I don't agree. Wireless will be a fun thing for me (and perhaps you, if you pursue it?) to make, but juts like third-party OSes and gCn, the vast majority of people out there won't have either interest or technical skills for it.

3) "Very few people go to ticalc.org"? Are you on crack? ticalc.org gets orders of magnitude more downloads than any other calculator site, including Cemetech's file archives and (I assume) Omnimaga's file archives

4) I think ticalc.org's design has proven effective for a decade or more; I don't think it's needs a redesign

5) I'm going to punch you in the face if I ever meet you. Seriously.

6) Old news. You should "like" Cemetech and Doors CS on Facebook and follow their news.

7) The community will always have bickering and craziness; all communities do. It's part of the human condition.

1. Yeah, only one where I disagree with Kerm, we could use a few more people, but not devs, just more people

2. wont wireless take up ALOT of power?

3. no comment

4. I dont even know where alberthro is going with this

6. most of my frinds of fb are cemetechians

7. weeeelll, we could use with a little less community tension, but hey, I can always just log off if things get wild

Qazz, I think your numbering got out of sync there.

yeah, I didnt want to get into the punching.....

So should I take this as a wake-up call to get into calculator programming?

Yes, you most certainly should, especially given all the calculators that you have.

or give them all to me, which ever

He can't, I already went down that road with him.

@Alberthro: Any thoughts on the responses we've given you thus far?

Hehe, I guess you win the race for calculator<->internet, then! Congrats! Me and graphmastur will still work on C2I, since it's a totally different concept from gCn, and it's still great with yours!

I agree with the most part - quite a few BASIC devs have came in, and maybe even an ASM guru too! But I still think there could be more, and we'll see an increase hopefully this year.

Ahh, but if we make it easy to use and accessible, everyone (hopefully) will like it! Quite a few people in my school would like to see such a thing (and so do I), so I feel that it's my duty to attempt to implement such a thing.

A majority of people in my school have no idea what ticalc.org is, and as we've seen from the past, the reviews made on each program are few and sometimes problematic. The only way people see new programs is if I install them, play them in front of people, and get people to receive it via transfer.

Not quite saying that the whole thing should be scrapped, just there could be a "n00b" section of the site for people to go and grab programs/apps from.

I seriously did not mean to insult you.... I'm just saying that we want an app store of such, we need to design something for "n00bs". Heck, some people are pretty stupid enough to not know to move the mouse...

I'm more than happy to remove this comment if you wish.
Seriously, I'm really NOT trying to bash you at all. You've done awesome work that I would never be able to do for my life. All I'm saying is that we might need to take a hint from Apple, and create a "LCD" (lowest common denominator) interface for the ones who are dumb enough to pull out batteries every day...

No no, I'm referring to something with achievements. Many games and such on facebook do such a thing, plus store high scores as well.

Well, I've seen the good times and bad times, right? I'd think if we all try, it actually might work.


Uh... before I begin, I would like to say one thing. You've started off with an inquiry about my ideas, and then after KermM's post, you've changed your mind and decided to attack me. To you, and everyone else... could you guys think for yourselves? I've seen this bandwagon behavior everywhere in both Cemetech and Omnimaga, and I'm just tired of it. This type of behavior has always caused problems, and I'd rather not see it happen again. If I had finished my reply and clarified, me and KermM would be pretty much even in understanding, and problem's resolved. If not, we would talk to each other on Facebook or IRC PM, and resolve it there. KermM is right about humans - conflict always happens, but the resolving of conflicts is (usually) done in a humane way.

So, to reply:
1) I agree, but do add devs too!
2) Yes, but the power will not be withdrawn from the USB - 100 mA is wayy too small. AA batteries and the likes will be used.
4) Read my reply above
5) And most of my FB friends are classmates and gamers and some occasional calc community members
6) Not the best thing. That's being a bystander, and bystanders are terrible. Being the one who solves the problem is by far the much better option IMO.

@DShiznit: yes please! It's slightly challenging, but what isn't?

This is a typical scare-factor "omg the community is dying" post that appears annually. Ignore it like you do with all the rest.

According to stats on your website, it is. Following your logic, I should say "my little brother is scared of your cuz of ur hair LOL LOL LOLCATZ"!

According to the usage stats on ticalc.org, activity is lower than it has previously been, because students have lots of other electronic gadgets besides calculators to keep them entertained. That has nothing to do with whether the [developer] community itself is active or not.

That is true to a certain extent. It has been very active (Nspire dev is really revving up), but I'd still argue that it has been decreasing over the years. (Maybe I'm looking at the wrong data?) But one thing is for sure - users have been decreasing.

Again, that's inevitable with any technology; what's amazing is that fifteen-year-old devices still have any users or developers at all. Also, don't forget that peer-to-peer program transfers can't possibly be tracked by ticalc.org, and arguably increase each year according to my informal studies.

Hmm... true. But that's because kids still need it, and TI still sells it. (Therefore being the "swinging door" for development) Peer to peer transfers could be made possible with that wireless attachment.... assuming that we could track transfers of a specific program, and when near a wifi hotspot, transmit usage info to ticalc servers. But I'll save that for the topic on wireless calcs.

I would love if we had a way to monitor peer-to-peer transfers for the sake of stats, for the sake of curiosity, and especially for the sake of being able to interject with an updated version of the program in question. However, as is unfortunately the case in many such things, I don't feel people have any (or very little) motivation to try to expand their horizons with program transfers. The calculator comes with a cable to transfer programs; they can live with that. If it came with a wireless link cable, they'd use that too, and TI would go out of business, because students would use it to cheat in class almost instantly, on tests, on quizzes, on the SATs. I feel that anyone who cares enough about calculators to want to use an extra piece of hardware in order to get their calculator to do (blah) is probably already here somewhere.

"Uh... before I begin, I would like to say one thing. You've started off with an inquiry about my ideas, and then after KermM's post, you've changed your mind and decided to attack me. To you, and everyone else... could you guys think for yourselves? I've seen this bandwagon behavior everywhere in both Cemetech and Omnimaga, and I'm just tired of it. This type of behavior has always caused problems, and I'd rather not see it happen again. If I had finished my reply and clarified, me and KermM would be pretty much even in understanding, and problem's resolved. If not, we would talk to each other on Facebook or IRC PM, and resolve it there. KermM is right about humans - conflict always happens, but the resolving of conflicts is (usually) done in a humane way.
"

yeah, I will admit I was skimming through the first time and really didnt read it throughly. and fine, I would still like to know what you mean by an app store because it sounded to me like you wanted to port ticalc to the calculators or something (which makes no sense x.x)

Sidebar, that seems pretty ad-hom to call him a sheep. I feel that qazz has his own opinion, and I feel that users at Cemetech have typically shown an above-average ability to make their own decisions when necessary rather than following the leader or letting themselves be manipulated by such a leader.