I think the difference is nobody is exploiting anybody else. "Leo the Homeless Coder" is exploiting himself for profit, but Patrick McConlogue is not exploiting anybody. I'm not 100% sure what his specific motivation was, but it doesn't seem like Patrick is attempting to profit off this in any way.

It seems like an interesting social experiment.

There was a documentary a while back of a homeless guy given $100,000 and no restrictions.

http://voices.yahoo.com/a-homeless-man-blows-100000-free-mon...

Devil's advocate for a sec--assuming Leo coded the app and Patrick isn't using him for PR, yes.

Exploitation isn't always about money.

Some people just love the power trip, watching others dance to their tune.

Not every exchange of power is exploitive.

It seems perfectly reasonable to market this as aggressively as possible.

It's not like he's rolling in money, and it's not like his mentor is taking a cut.

Wesley Willis was schizophrenic and no amount of casual intervention was going to meaningfully improve his circumstances. And, yes, Willis was exploited terribly.

This, today, is just a guy who wants to learn how to code. Good for him; I wish him the best.