Simon -

With the many lengthy posts here I'll make this one somewhat brief
(although I have opinions on a lot of what's been said)...

1) THANK YOU for your contributions to XCSoar! I used it from 2007 -
2009 and appreciate the work that you and many others did to create
such a wonderful free product. I even created a video (on YouTube and
Twango) to show off the main features of XCSoar. I also recognize
that without XCSoar there would be no LK8000, and I hope that my use
of LK8000 is not taken as an insult to the work done by contributors
like yourself!

2) Paolo has publicly claimed that his submissions to XCSoar (for
PNAs, as Martin mentions) were rejected. Since someone at the head of
XCSoar development is apparently refusing to accept his code, I see
his refusal to release the source-code for LK8000 as a "tit-for-tat"
response. Hence my comments about exclusion and egos - the GPL has
nothing to do with it. I find this spat annoying and distasteful; but
I also don't think its my place to insert myself between the warring
personalities.

3) Paolo apparently started contributing to XCSoar around 5.2 or
5.22... So he was a late-comer to the party; but he was involved for
a time.

4) My comments about business and harm stem from my personal view on
software development: In my mind there is a clear division between a
commercial or professional project, and a "for-free" or "for-the-
public-good" project. If you code something and say "I'm giving it
away to the masses", then you have to accept the fact that you can't
always control the public. Its understandable to be hurt if someone
uses something you've done and doesn't give you credit for the work.
But if someone gets all knotted up about it, then perhaps their
original motives weren't as pure or altruistic as they thought? Now
if the development was started with the intention of making a profit
or obtaining something else (like a job or an award) through this
project, then mis-use of the code is true theft. The GPL occupies
this weird middle-ground, where people are giving away stuff "for
free", but they don't want someone else to make a profit off of their
efforts; and/or they want to have some sort of hammer to wield in
order to force others to give away *their* code/contributions as
well. As a way of forcing projects into the light to be evolved
through group effort, its cool - but its got its drawbacks as well.

OK, this is getting too lengthy, I'll cut it off here. Just to be
clear: I still think the GPL should be respected and on a personal
level I don't agree with Paolo's course of action. But I do
understand why he's doing it, and there's no arguing that LK8000 is
presently superior to XCSoar 5.2.4 - especially on PNAs and other
newer Win CE/Mobile devices; and that's driving its adoption. As a
private citizen with no control over either project, I hope for a
positive resolution and full respect of the GPL and other laws by both
parties.

BTW - You mentioned Android. Which is cool, but I think a lot of
projects developed for Android may wind up in legal limbo as the
ORACLE lawsuit winds its way through the courts over the next several
years. The legal issues with LK8000 may wind up being peanuts
compared to an XCSoar product on Android! :-P

--Noel