Do NOT purchase an EcuTEK license for your 06 without reading this...

[JoeScooby]

This is some good info for all you 06 Subarus looking to ECUtek it, found it over at Nabisco



http://forums.nasioc.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1027462

[HuffRex]

They said this goes for all Ecutek tunes! Interesting...atleast I plan of keeping my car for a long long time!!!

[BlackBulletTSi]

wow thats rediculous in my opinion

[SinistiR]

I think thats a pretty harsh title for this thread. There is no engine management system out there that did/does not have any issues of some sorts. EcuTek works very hard to support its dealers, and they get alot of good information in return. This is a perfect example of this. This will not be a permenant situation and I am sure EcuTek will have a system worked out to correct this.

[WhiteXFire]

Did anybody make it to the 3rd page??
http://forums.nasioc.com/forums/showthread.php?p=14199343#post14199343
It continues on that page between EcuTeK, Trey Cobb, Colby - the writer of OpenECU, and PDXTuning.

EcuTeK instigated the locking of the data in the ECU as a direct response to our dealer network across the world.

Our partners (the tuners) have been concerned that their intellectual property was being copied and perhaps would be programmed into vehicles to which it was not suitable therefore causing engine failures for which they might be blamed.

This is not an attempt to hijack the ECU but simply a response to a feature request by our tuning partners who have invested a huge amount of their time and effort into development of ROM files.

We are beta testing software to our dealers which will allow the ECU to be returned completely to standard with no locking. This will mean that it can then be programmed by the dealer or other hardware. This is being released in a few days.

In the event of a dealer reflash being required on a modified car then it would be advisable for the customer to visit his tuner in the first instance. He will be able to program the ECU using the latest version of ROM file but with his changes incorporated. We do provide EcuTeK dealers with the very latest ROM files which are as up to date as anything the dealers have. This is a far safer and more sensible option, as re-flashing a modified vehicle back to standard is not advisable.

We would also advise that Trey Cobb will be incorporating the same changes as us, thus allowing programming by Cobb products over EcuTeK and vice versa.

This is in direct response to requests from his dealers and allows him to protect his work.

...

By the way we made this change to the software more than six months ago.

In that time it does not seem to have caused the huge number of problems that one might believe from reading this thread.
Just to follow up with what Dave @ EcuTek stated:

We will offer compatibility with EcuTek reflashed ECUs for our future releases, and visa versa. EcuTek and ourselves have enjoyed open communication for some time so while we don't share IP, we don't make attempts to work against each other in a way that might negatively effect our user base. Both companies have committed to disclosing protection mechanisms we have, or will, put in place as a means to protect our own, and our tuner's work.

While it is true we have all gotten into the ECU through one "back door" or another, the end result is a raw binary dump with no comments or documentation. The work necessary to define what all these values do, and HOW they work, takes an enormous amount of effort. To think that someone could suddenly decipher this information in the matter of a day or even a few weeks would be naive at best. Reverse engineering an ECU is a multi-layer process. Dumping data or reverse engineering a device to determine the methods to upload a boot program are only one small step in the entire process.

As for us feeling a threat from the "open" source community, I cannot honestly say my perception of threat is felt by those truly committed to the "Open Source" philosophy. I am actually open to those that endeavor to learn what we have and more, and wish to do so by actually walking the same path we have and learning, as we have, along the way. That is the nature of open source so far as I've always known it, a path to knowledge discovery.

My concern and threat is due to the fact that Colby Boles has been actively soliciting the work that has been performed by "OpenECU" for sale to other companies such as those that offer Handheld programmers. And not for a very small chunk of change I might add. As I am in constant contact with others in my industry, I have no reason to think the CEO's or COO's of these respective companies would benefit from lying to me about that fact. Competition is the way of life in business, so I'm far from bellyaching. I think half those companies started with information acquired from former employees of either a Big3 or another competitor so its the way of life in this industry I'm afraid. Furthermore, the info is for the most part free online, just some critical things like oh I dunno, source code, that Colby has kept to himself. Makes sense why, now...

I just think if I were an active member of the "open" community I'd feel a little deceived. Granted Cobly "figured out" how to get in (though he can't show his work or describe his methods which is odd for open source) but a good portion of the other work has been performed by others for free. I certainly hope if a sale is made all you get something in return. And please don't take this as an attack of the "open" community as I don't believe it is the majority of the member's intention to profit, or cause harm to others, with the knowledge.

As someone has already mentioned, we must continue to innovate to stay ahead. Our intentions are to do just that. However any innovations we may make within the ECU code is now open for others to simply copy without any work put forth on their own part. We have other innovations, aside from our Realtime tuning, we wish to bring to market soon. I can only hope it is somewhat understandable we'd like the ability to protect those innovations for as long as possible.

Best regards,
Trey @ COBB

[SinistiR]

I dont think anyone read past the first post.

[JoeScooby]

I think thats a pretty harsh title for this thread. There is no engine management system out there that did/does not have any issues of some sorts. EcuTek works very hard to support its dealers, and they get alot of good information in return. This is a perfect example of this. This will not be a permenant situation and I am sure EcuTek will have a system worked out to correct this.


I didnt make the title up, just copied it from NASIOC.

[TROLL]

i just read a whole lot of it... kinda disappointed in the big companies there. looks like they got caught and now are busting their asses to make it right, but that still doesnt make up for their intentions, IMO.
i was always curious about openecu and am actually friendly with one of the guys who has been working on developing it since the beginning. he's always updating me and telling me to look into it more... i'm interested but a little wary i guess. kinda waiting for 50 people to come out and post overwhelming success stories about it all...

[RayArroyo]

i just read a whole lot of it... kinda disappointed in the big companies there. looks like they got caught and now are busting their asses to make it right, but that still doesnt make up for their intentions, IMO.
i was always curious about openecu and am actually friendly with one of the guys who has been working on developing it since the beginning. he's always updating me and telling me to look into it more... i'm interested but a little wary i guess. kinda waiting for 50 people to come out and post overwhelming success stories about it all...

troll i want to do it, they finally have the 06 sti working and i also want to do this to the evo. wanna help?

[TROLL]

ha that sounds dangerous, i'll help you figure out how to get everything loaded onto your car, but i'm not a tuner and am not going to take responsibility for 2 brand new $30k+ cars, thats all you...

[RayArroyo]

ha that sounds dangerous, i'll help you figure out how to get everything loaded onto your car, but i'm not a tuner and am not going to take responsibility for 2 brand new $30k+ cars, thats all you...

im the only person that tunes my cars.

[RayArroyo]

im the only person that tunes my cars.


i need you as far as getting the software working on my laptop. looks like a bitch

[S4toSTI]

I think its easy you noob.

[RayArroyo]

I think its easy you noob.


ill kill you you ****ing bastard

[S4toSTI]

Don't get puerto rican on me .

[RayArroyo]

Don't get puerto rican on me .


(----------- pulls out switch blade out of his pockets nad says mira mira andale andale mami ya ya oh ohhhhh

[D Money]

I love Ecutek! That post doesn't change my mind about Ecutek being the best EM out there...