95 percent of this thread is just spam and lameness...
Now, the developers are throwing a lot of **** at eachother. I guess someone started it, though.
If we take a look at history as it played out, we'll see the following:
1:
Lead has had three (official!) software "branches"; Fighter, Cruiser and Cruiser+.
the_laser has only had one real "branch", SETool2 (SETool3 is just a third-party box, not the_laser's product (software is SETool2)). Fair enough, people were forced to get a smartcard (WAY back in early 2005) when the old "protection" (based on disk partition information) was getting just that, old. That costed a mear 70USD (a lot less than 90EUR). Just like when JAF went from box-security to PKey. You calling Raskal &Co cheaters, Mizar? No? Didn't think so. I'd love to see you comment on this, though.
2:
Lead was the first to release a CID49 "solution". Which killed a lot of phones which has still to be revived (would only require Lead to publish signed EROMs, as far as I gather).
SETool released proper CID49 support three months later, which has yet to kill a single phone if used properly. Cruiser ripped that solution right off (albeit somewhat later).
3:
Cruiser+ is a paid upgrade. No way to upgrade the old cards, because of your (quote) internal policy (end quote). This is allowed if anyone wants to pay for the ability to service 16 phones at a time (Pro2--->Pro16). 90EUR a pop seems a bit steep considering no real R&D was put into it. Seems like it's rather a case of C&P.
SETool has never required anyone to pay for an update. The ability to service numerous phones is included.
4:
Cruiser is point&click-based, allowing for preprogrammed functions with virtually no flexibility. Requires Lead to hard-code basic functions.
SETool allows for far more operations on >= DB2000 phones than Cruiser ever has. Part of the trick is the use of scripts/commands, which is and has alway been better than point&click.
Now, I really don't want to see any replies to this from Lead/Mizar, unless they contain some technical proof of me being wrong. Rhetorics and/or empty answers/accusations won't get you out of this one.
All this said, neither 70USD nor 90EUR is a lot of money, it's about the cost of two or three Blu-ray movies, for instance. Charging money for thin air is a questionable policy, though.