Don, there are several areas of the ECM and with the 1.61 i believe it is and later they lock several areas of the ECM which prevent access to them. You would ahve to ask Steve what those specific areas are and his reasoning for the change in doing so.
Had used TTS on a few people's bikes Harry but never had reason to notice this detail or had used earlier revisions and it wasn't there. It's a significant new concern with the product though.
There may be good reasons to lockout the ECM (or portions thereof). But as a user who understands what's being done wouldn't you be concerned for the more laymen users who head out on a summer road trip and breakdown halfway across country only to find out their source of factory service is potentially locked out from system diagnostics or the ability to alter as needed?
At least to me it was also an iffy suggestion at best that TTS suggested as a standard course of action that using their product meant uninstalling its gains and reloading a base map before service. Thus leaving the potential for the conundrum of having to make an upgraded engine run bad because you're taking it in hoping to diagnose why its running bad...
That was bad enough. But TTS (potentially) arrogating unto itself access to the OE ECM is a worry too large. Dealers may not like Thundermax of Power Commander (or whatever). They may even claim not to know them. But if push comes to shove the devices are at least open and accessible and allow (or even simplify) basic code reading and other troubleshooting. What you're suggesting that TTS is now doing is in diametric opposition to that.