just read back a couple of pages and heard mention of Braben and Bell. Interesting... but had you not thought about Oolite and the appearance of Elite Dangerous? After Frontier tanked, and i mean TANKED! (I remember it on the Amiga and wish i hadn't) the trail went decidedly cold on the Elite Frontier
David Braben was a nice bloke from when i met him at the PCW show in about 87/88 for the release of Elite on Amiga/Atari ST. Ian Bell was more reclusive back then and never did the whole PR thang.
I personally believe that Oolite can probably hold itself partly responsible for the existence of ED, by showing the level of interest that still exists for Elite and what could be done with less restraints on time and memory usage, updated storage, distribution methods and having a passionate userbase.
I say partly and of course i mean like about 50% responsible.
I wouldn't be surprised if he has told whoever publishes ED to leave this project alone, as some jumped up law intern might see this as easy meat to make a name for himself. It isn't difficult to find Oolite by searching for Elite!
Look at Nintendo and how petty they have been about their games. dead code bought to life by the large numbers of people using emulators to play old favourites. Cinemaware used to offer their ENTIRE amiga collection FREE on their website, in ADF format, so you could play them on WINUAE. Now, Defender of the Crown and The Three Stooges have had reboots and many other titles are being considered for tweaking for a new lease of life. Removed from their online download section.
just a thought.....