I never said that there weren't any differences. I said that the differences aren't as dramatic as you'd think. I've seen two diametrically opposed tunes (in terms of how the car ran) and the tunes were remarkably similar. One ran like utter dog shit and the other ran amazingly well. Just a heads/cam car, too. Nothing too insane. And the shitty tune came from the shop that actually put the package together (and knew the specs inside and out).
At the end of the day, transparency is a good thing. I don't see why anyone would want less transparency or even be OK with it. It hasn't hurt GM tuners and it won't hurt the Ford guys.
FWIW, some guys even find copying to be a form of flattery. The public forum has done a better job at weeding out shit tuners and thieves than anything else.
I know I said I'm out, but I cant leave this one alone....
OK, so lets say we have TUNER A, whos tune you said ran like utter dog shit... and TUNER B, whos tune was similar but ran amazingly well.
People will buy TUNER B's tunes, because they run better!
With the tunes all unlocked, TUNER A will just look at TUNER B's tune, see what's different, and fix his tunes. Stealing TUNER B's knowledge/experience.
Transparancy is awesome when you are the buyer.....
Sharing trade "secrets" is a whole different story.
I've personally seen people have to go through AED to get a tune that will pass emissions testing.... He sells them because he was smart enough, and took the time, to figure out how to make it work. You think he should be "transparent" with this knowledge so that all the tuners know how to do it. That's silly