Let's put this discussion to bed
I've avoided chipping in on this debate, but I've heard enough so the time has come.
The fact that seems to be escaping a lot of people is that the "time bomb" which kicked in on July 1 apparently wasn't applied to the firmware until late in May, after Whistler announced their very generous program to update Pro-668, PSR800 and Pro-18 radios to new firmware, with continued support. After that announcement, anyone who downloaded v4.6 and applied it to a different radio was really skating on thin ice; with a legitimate avenue of upgrade in place (for radios which they were under absolutely no obligation to support), it's perfectly understandable that Whistler would take more drastic steps to prevent this kind of behavior.
The fact that the unofficial project was ended after Whistler announced the official upgrade program speaks volumes.
As noted in an earlier post(s), Whistler's disclaimers (wherever found) are pretty clear that applying the firmware to a radio for which it wasn't intended could cause the radio to stop functioning; their continued attempts to deter this kind of behavior through changes to the firmware also make it pretty clear that they did not approve of what was going on.
Had the hacked firmware updates been applied with nothing more in mind than improved P25 performance for these poorly performing, orphaned and unsupported radios (P25 being a feature these radios already had), I suspect Whistler may have looked the other way; however, when the updates added reception of a mode these radios never offered (especially after an offical upgrade path was announced), a line was crossed.
Would it have been nice of Whistler to make an explicit warning that scanners loaded with hacked firmware after a certain date would be locked to that version? Certainly. Were they obligated to do so? Not in the slightest, especially since their other disclaimers already warn that radios could stop functioning.
The simple fact remains that those who upgraded their radios with hacked firmware assumed all risks of damage or loss of function. Whistler could even argue that those who continued to apply the hacked update after the official upgrade program was announced were now knowingly trying to avoid paying for the upgrade, essentially committing theft.
Is the fact that the affected radios can no longer be upgraded or downgraded incredibly annoying to those who are affected? Absolutely. But those folks still have a scanner that's functioning better than it was in it's original state, and by applying a hacked version of the firmware, they accepted the risk that the radio could stop functioning in some way or another.
No amount of debate is going to change what's happened. If someone chooses to no longer patronize Whistler as a result of what's happened to their scanner, that's their decision, but to blame Whistler when the responsibility lies with the user is really stretching things a bit too far.
I've avoided chipping in on this debate, but I've heard enough so the time has come.
The fact that seems to be escaping a lot of people is that the "time bomb" which kicked in on July 1 apparently wasn't applied to the firmware until late in May, after Whistler announced their very generous program to update Pro-668, PSR800 and Pro-18 radios to new firmware, with continued support. After that announcement, anyone who downloaded v4.6 and applied it to a different radio was really skating on thin ice; with a legitimate avenue of upgrade in place (for radios which they were under absolutely no obligation to support), it's perfectly understandable that Whistler would take more drastic steps to prevent this kind of behavior.
The fact that the unofficial project was ended after Whistler announced the official upgrade program speaks volumes.
As noted in an earlier post(s), Whistler's disclaimers (wherever found) are pretty clear that applying the firmware to a radio for which it wasn't intended could cause the radio to stop functioning; their continued attempts to deter this kind of behavior through changes to the firmware also make it pretty clear that they did not approve of what was going on.
Had the hacked firmware updates been applied with nothing more in mind than improved P25 performance for these poorly performing, orphaned and unsupported radios (P25 being a feature these radios already had), I suspect Whistler may have looked the other way; however, when the updates added reception of a mode these radios never offered (especially after an offical upgrade path was announced), a line was crossed.
Would it have been nice of Whistler to make an explicit warning that scanners loaded with hacked firmware after a certain date would be locked to that version? Certainly. Were they obligated to do so? Not in the slightest, especially since their other disclaimers already warn that radios could stop functioning.
The simple fact remains that those who upgraded their radios with hacked firmware assumed all risks of damage or loss of function. Whistler could even argue that those who continued to apply the hacked update after the official upgrade program was announced were now knowingly trying to avoid paying for the upgrade, essentially committing theft.
Is the fact that the affected radios can no longer be upgraded or downgraded incredibly annoying to those who are affected? Absolutely. But those folks still have a scanner that's functioning better than it was in it's original state, and by applying a hacked version of the firmware, they accepted the risk that the radio could stop functioning in some way or another.
No amount of debate is going to change what's happened. If someone chooses to no longer patronize Whistler as a result of what's happened to their scanner, that's their decision, but to blame Whistler when the responsibility lies with the user is really stretching things a bit too far.
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