Well, take the Emulator for example. I don't know if Max Derouen (Emulator author) deciphered the files himself or if Minelab helped him figure them out. The Emulator, of course, only deals with .ptrn files.
Max does not work for Minelab nor does he get paid by Minelab, but Minelab has put a copy of the Emulator on their site available for download with the usual caveat of "use at your own risk - it's not ours".
So, Minelab seems to appreciate efforts such as Max's (the Emulator is a sweet piece of software), but will only go so far.
Also, even if Minelab had someone do it for them it still does not remove the security issue...it would actually make it worse since the code used to access the E-Trac would be given to an outside developer. That's the whole point as far as they are concerned. Minelab's detector software is some of the most sophisticated on the planet and they don't want anyone getting access to it. To make an E-Trac importable file you need the equation and byte locations so the E-Trac will accept it. That equation and the byte locations can give a hacker indirect access possibly leading to full access...kind of like the key to the insides of the E-Trac.
Beep