I haven't contacted WileyPLUS directly yet, but I emailed my professor. This was the reply I got:
"I will share your points with the WileyPlus staff. As you noted, Io have no control over that content and how it is scored.
I will note that to the point you made, the question is speaking of a general point, and not something specific such as Linux that would be an exception based on the platform. But in general, it would be piracy.
I will share your concerns."
So I doubt anything will change. Sharing software=piracy now.
Is your professor incapable of logical thought? What the hell.
"The question was general but the example disproving the official solution is specific so I'll claim it's just an exception and doesn't matter"
That's not how this works. When you make a general claim and there is a single counterexample the claim is invalidated. Seriously I would have expected better of any prof.
Anyway even if we allowed them to have a single exception Linux is hardly the only example of free software, there are at least three big licenses I can think of from the top of my head where their answer is wrong. GPL, MIT license and Apache license.
A true/false answer already generalizes a user's input into a 50/50 scenario. A black and white way of looking at things (in which is rarely the case with life's scenarios). I understand what the teacher is getting at, however the student should not have to infer or assume information that was not provided strictly in the question or teaching.
A good test question should really leave out ambiguity especially with multiple choice and true/false answer types. The easiest way to fix this is to use the actual definition of computer software piracy that specifically uses the wording: " illegal copying, distribution, or use". You are totally in the right, and I would continue to fight it!
Damn did you let them know on some sort of feedback form?
I haven't contacted WileyPLUS directly yet, but I emailed my professor. This was the reply I got:
"I will share your points with the WileyPlus staff. As you noted, Io have no control over that content and how it is scored.
I will note that to the point you made, the question is speaking of a general point, and not something specific such as Linux that would be an exception based on the platform. But in general, it would be piracy.
I will share your concerns."
So I doubt anything will change. Sharing software=piracy now.
Is your professor incapable of logical thought? What the hell.
"The question was general but the example disproving the official solution is specific so I'll claim it's just an exception and doesn't matter"
That's not how this works. When you make a general claim and there is a single counterexample the claim is invalidated. Seriously I would have expected better of any prof.
Anyway even if we allowed them to have a single exception Linux is hardly the only example of free software, there are at least three big licenses I can think of from the top of my head where their answer is wrong. GPL, MIT license and Apache license.
A true/false answer already generalizes a user's input into a 50/50 scenario. A black and white way of looking at things (in which is rarely the case with life's scenarios). I understand what the teacher is getting at, however the student should not have to infer or assume information that was not provided strictly in the question or teaching.
A good test question should really leave out ambiguity especially with multiple choice and true/false answer types. The easiest way to fix this is to use the actual definition of computer software piracy that specifically uses the wording: " illegal copying, distribution, or use". You are totally in the right, and I would continue to fight it!