For experimentation the FAA has set up a program called UAS test sites: http://www.faa.gov/news/fact_sheets/news_story.cfm?newsid=15... and http://www.faa.gov/about/initiatives/uas/
No problem with testing, but it must be done step by step.
I extrapolate, perhaps inappropriately, that the combination of an FAA ban on commercial drones and a testing initiative will mean that only proprietary, patent-protected, and closed-source drones--and their software packages--will ever have access to this potentially interesting and useful market.
And that barrier to entry will make everything more expensive, in the same way that a GPS becomes more expensive when installed in an avionics panel than when it is strapped to the pilot's thigh.
Premature optimization is not optimization at all.
* note - I didn't read your links completely.