XConnect is free and open source software. It enables some Microsoft Flight Simulator addons to be used with X-Plane, by imitating the FSUIPC protocol that they use to interface with the simulator. Another plugin like it is XPUIPC, but that is not open source.
XConnect began life as a closed source plugin created by a developer of payware Flight Simulator addons who wanted to move towards supporting X-Plane. The developer sought to make the project open source in order to benefit the wider community, but soon after the first version was released, work on the project stalled.
3½ years later, in 2013, I was looking for something that would allow me to use the addon vPAR Transponder with X-Plane. XPUIPC didn't work for me, but with a bit of programming effort I was able to get XConnect to solve my problem. I wanted to release my improved XConnect source code back to the community, but there was a legal problem: the original developers had neglected to specify which particular free or open source license applied to their code so, technically, it wasn't open source at all and I would be breaching copyright if I released my modifications. I approached the original programmer, and he kindly allowed me to take over as a project admin and select my choice of license: I chose the GNU Lesser General Public License.
Now I am essentially a caretaker admin, gradually improving the source code in between working on other projects and acting as a unified, coordinated point of contact for anyone wishing to use XConnect or contribute to its development.
Mat Sutcliffe 2013-03-24
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