[cheezerman]

I'm curious about their stance on hardware clones such as Hobbyking, RCTimer, etc.

Being an open source company, do they embrace this? I've seen some pretty harsh words spoken on various forums from 3dr employees towards people asking about clones.

[gamerdonkey]

Having heard some talks from 3D Robotics people and followed them online, I get the sense that they (officially, as an organization) accept the clones as competition and simply try to continue innovating to stay ahead of the game. That sentiment is exemplified in this blog post: http://www.adafruit.com/blog/2011/05/19/cloned-open-source-h...

That being said, I think it is natural for there to be some animosity towards the clones on a more individual basis, especially in a situation where community members and employees feel that they are expected to provide support for the clones.