Just to clarify. After entering the VIN, you get the compiled firmware ready to flash.
There are no instructions on that page (or anywhere I could find on the BMW site) for how to get the source.
I've emailed the address in the license file, but I've not yet had a response.
The GPL says that you must present a written offer executable by anyone. As long as their written offer describes how to get the software, and it works, they are fine. There is no requirement that they give the written offer to any random stranger who asks.
Furthermore the requirement for a VIN is very reasonable. The software is constantly changing, and without the VIN, how do they know what version to give you?
It was obvious at the start the BMW was in compliance. There was no actual story. Just a jerk who thought he was defending free software who was rude and managed to get a bunch of knee-jerk responses from the internet.
So what has been accomplished? We have "gotten BMW's attention", and wasted a bunch of people's time to verify that they were in compliance from the start. (Which I figured out from the original story, even if the person writing it didn't understand the GPL well enough to think it through.)