> Then making one that wasn't certified for exams is exactly what they should have done. As it stands, they're just another TI.

I don't think "just another TI" should be undervalued—I remember how exciting their calculators were in my youth, and now they're, well, there's an XKCD for that (https://xkcd.com/768). Some competition that would get them back to make a real investment in innovation would be very welcome, even if it didn't result in an open-source calculator.

A competitor to TI - which has been able to sell 1992 technology for the same price for three decades - is definitely a good thing.