Design, by its very definition is a compromise between criteria. For a car this criteria is typically:
Reliability/life,
Emissions,
MPG,
Cost, &
Power
And in roughly that order too!
It really doesn't matter that vw have spent millions, they have spent it on a compromise that meets their criteria. Remapping the ecu tailors that compromise towards the area that is of most importance to the user - in many cases this is power (at the expense of reliability/life). But in reality, what's the real difference between a remap and getting bigger carbs or rejetting your carbs on older engines?
If I recall correctly the original chips used to trick the ecu to think that the engine had ice cold air outside so would dump fuel into the cylinders, hence the high CO reading at idle and minimal bhp increase.
As a side note, large companies such as VW, don't always give the best wages and also take years to innovate, so someone that is clever with aspirations or ideas can set up changes that could improve things tremendously and very quickly outside the company...
But I'm sure you will disregard this post as another person who knows nothing...
