Seems reasonable. I have a Duemilanove and an Uno R2 that I haven't used in ages but Arduino stuff has always been open as far as I remember. I really can't bring myself to pull out the pitchforks here. They've earned the trust from me. It's been over a decade now.
You are basically saying that "past experience means future trust". How does this relate? I mean, a company xyz can have been doing great in the past, but may go extinct lateron for any reason. See Sun and then who owns Java nowadays. I much preferred Sun over Oracle really.
I feel the parent. I assume what they refer to is good will accumulated over the years. But that by itself does not last forever and eventually disappears ( faster in some than others ). I personally learned to not get too comfy. Stuff changes, which means we have need to adjust as well. It is just hard sometimes.
