OGN was tracking Flarms using cheap devices reprogrammed using the Flarm
protocol. OGN did it using the 2008 Flarm protocol published on the usenet.
Now that Flarm has changed the protocol, OGN will either need to reverse
engineering the new flarm firmware (legal in germany, illegal in many other
part of the world) or wait until someone else will do it for them.
At the same time, Flarm will propose to OGN to have all the OGN nodes
transmitting the received data to their servers, where they will be
decrypted, checked for authorization and retransmitted to OGN server.
Flarm will so get full control of all OGN stations. Flarm would enter the
tracking market with an existing network not even financed for hardware.
Only alternative, shutting down everything. Flarm will benefit of OGN
software which is opensource in any case.
There is only one winner in either cases, and it is not OGN.
Unless OGN can break the new radio protocol, of course, in such case it
would be a real smash.
only my vision!
p


wrote in message
...

Which is just as well, as OGN won't sell you one!

Well, just to clarify- "OGN" is not selling anything to anyone. Apart from
ideas and inspiration to do cool things (I hope ) And OGN is not forcing
anyone to use one and only one solution (as some other companies do).

OGN needs to distance itself from any Tracker other than Flarm itself, to
ensure the co-operation of Flarm.
Don't see any reason for that. OGN has never said it was purly "FLARM's
toy". FLARM could have had done it years ago, did not take its chance. It's
difficult to imagine that so many people would voluntarily sacrifice their
time and money in the name of building (for free!) a highly distributed
network which would then only be bound to one commercial company.

OGN proposes a platform, on which FLARM can be very important player, but
not the only one. And many of the OGN members (me included) strongly believe
in openness of the protocols - and that is what OGN now proposes under
"OGNTP".


Personally I see Tracker as a solution looking for a problem.

In which sense? Nobody forces you to build/have/fly with one.

Cheers
Wojtek