Let me play a what-if game for a second.

What if
-Stern embraced open source code
-tech saavy person modifies code and creates a bug where it can in certain situations lock a coil on and burn up the coil or coils in the machine or worse damage to a board or something
-It doesnt happen very often so he/she doesnt notice until after sharing code with the internet
-lets say over the couse of 6 months 10 people have this problem and have damaged their machines.

Who is responsible?
-should stern provide replacement parts?
-how could stern prove you had factory code or not?
-Is the person that modified the code responsible?

I cant see stern releasing code until long after the machine is out of warrantee. I know they really only have 3 mo warantee, but ive read many times when stern is supporting old games and helping diagnose games etc. but they are not going to allow the risk of open source creating issues they have to support.