[Touch HD Windows Mobile ROM Development] Chef_Tony:
no offense, but there is no point to your post.

people, that develop software have the right to charge whatever they like. some might do it entirely for free, others encourage you to donate, and others charge money. that is the way it has always been.

you don't see people complaining to microsoft, that windows is a commercial product while most linux distributions are free. they wouldn't bother. they put money into r&d, programming, processing, manufacturing and marketing and it is their prerogative to demand money in exchange for a product.

now let me go a little bit off topic and explain to you, how the german net-lock/ sim lock thing works:

when you go out to buy a phone, you are presented with 3 options:

1. buy it straight away, without sim cards or any locks, you'll pay, let's say 480Eur for it.

2. you get a monthly plan. you pay 1Eur for an unlocked phone, and then a monthly 20Eur for the sim card for 24 months (which is giving you crappy rates and the 20 bucks are just for paying off the phone), that way, you paid 481Eur.

3. you buy a locked phone with a pay-as-you-go option for 380Eur. there is no monthly commitment AND you paid way less than in version 1 or 2. how is that possible? by sim lock. the carriers demand another 100Eur to unlock the phone, or you have to wait 2 years and you get it for free. that way they either get the full price for the phone, or they keep you as a customer for 2 years. win win for them. or in case you already bought it locked to your favorite carrier, have better rates than with a monthly plan and saved 100 bucks on the phone, win win for you.

now think about that model with the iphone. it does not matter which way you buy it, it is always locked and you are still paying the full price.

also, that is why unlocking it for 10-20Eur is actually a good price, but you scam the carrier into giving you an expensive phone for a cheap price, you unlock it and you could sell it for the full price. that makes this practice a legal grey zone, if not even illegal in germany.

i can not say anything for other countries in that matter of course. but if your local system works anything like this, you might even get the unlock for free from the former carrier.

now back to the topic of the costs:

this is exactly, where you got it backwards. noone expects you to suddenly start helping to earn your unlock code for free. it is meant the other way around, people who are always helping others and contributing for free get this team's work and contribution for free as well. but they want to protect their intellectual property from leechers and other users (in general, not speaking about you) that just ask questions and gain information and free stuff from this community, without actually contributing. after all, if everyone just demanded stuff and never contributed, there would be nothing to demand left. questions would go unanswered and there would be no more freeware.

in other words, if you are not willing to offer your help and time for free, why should they.

you cannot come here and demand the unlock code for free, as you have not earned that privilege. you cannot compare the iphone jailbreak with this sim unlock and say if one is free, the other has to be as well. if that were a valid argument, i could go to apple and say, my used blueangel is a touch screen phone and it cost me 30 bucks, your iphone is a touch screen phone, i want it for 30 bucks. if that works, i will gladly give you a free unlock code for the blackstone :D

one more thing: just in case you didn't know, there is no universal unlock code for all the blackstones out there, say, one number to unlock them all, like it is with the one jailbreak, that works for all. the soft sim unlock with the code is dependent on your country, your imei number and your former carrier. if it were just as simple as running an .exe file or installing a cab file, i would actually appreciate it free for all as well but apparently, they found the algorithm to calculate these unlock codes and don't want to post a list of 19 gazillion possible combinations.

but you see, just the fact that is DOES cost something already made you contribute something constructive to the forum. if you have further interest in the phone, there is still much to learn about it here and it can be fun. and this community, like many others is based on the fact that people appreciate it to get fast help from other users and in return, they share their finds, talents and knowledge with others.