> I find it curious that the customer using the product in an unintended way would be upsetting to the vendor
Because your customer, in so doing, is stealing from your other customers and undermining your reputation as a vendor.
Plus, you're disheartened because this interaction is a waste of time, regardless of the fact you get paid: if money was all you cared about, you wouldn't be in education.
> Because your customer, in so doing, is stealing from your other customers
That's always going to be the case, though. Imagine you built software that helped businesses find customers. Using it the intended way they can realize a small number of new customer each day distributed across your customer base. Now, someone finds a new way to use your software in a manner that you never envisioned and they're attracting all the customers, taking from those who used the software as expected.
But, really, who cares? You just pivot to the embrace the new way and carry on with life. That's your market now. It's fun and all to want to be the elevator operator of old, but at some point you have to realize that nobody cares about your nostalgia. Markets change.
> Plus, you're disheartened because this interaction is a waste of time
But it is not. The students are only there to abade social pressures and cheating their way through gives them what they want out of the deal. Very few students care about the academics.
> if money was all you cared about, you wouldn't be in education.
If you don't care about money, why are you marketing the social need so hard? This is like a car manufacturer marketing that their cars are great gateway vehicles when committing crimes and then lamenting that criminals are using their vehicles to get away...
Before the ridiculous, albeit successful, "If you don't go to college you will end up flipping burgers" marketing campaign, college only attracted a small number of students who were serious about learning and all was well with the world. Colleges still spend an inordinate amount of time justifying why the cost is worthwhile to keep up the social need illusion.
It's not hard to revert to the natural state. Fact of the matter is that you (not you personally, perhaps, but the group) don't want to.
You picked a very specific example of customer behaviour, with aspects of a zero sum game, that is by no means "always going to be the case".
And yes it's a waste of time! If you want a fake credential then it's much cheaper and easier to just lie on your CV. It's not like many employers will check your certificates, at least not in software. I'd really rather people did that than waste my time first trying to teach them and later handling their academic misconduct cases.
If I'm marketing social need, this is the first time I've heard of it ;-)
It is, but an acceptable cost to keep the social pressures at bay. There are a lot of things in life that are ultimately wastes of time, but worthwhile to maintain a civil society. Such is life. If you are happy to escape to the deep woods away from all others where every moment of your time is purposeful, good on you.
> If you want a fake credential then it's much cheaper and easier to just lie on your CV.
What would that accomplish? The business world couldn't care less about your past achievements. They don't care that you performed in a play, rode a horse, swam in the ocean, or went to college. There is no value in even putting a legitimate degree accomplishment on your CV, let alone faking it. If anything, it detracts from your standing as it shows that you're so useless you couldn't come up with anything more relevant to share about yourself.
Instead, it is parental pressure that puts one into these schools when they otherwise shouldn't be. And those parents will turn up at your graduation. Once you've thrown your cap in the air, so to speak, nobody will ever think about it ever again. Getting to that one moment in time is the so called hoops that one is cheating for.
Because your customer, in so doing, is stealing from your other customers and undermining your reputation as a vendor.
Plus, you're disheartened because this interaction is a waste of time, regardless of the fact you get paid: if money was all you cared about, you wouldn't be in education.