Yes Gnucleus 1.4 has been released to current gnucleus users. I do this as a final test, and kind of like a gift that if you are current user you will get the latest update. It is not available on SourceForge yet, I have to finish making the new installer package and then I will make a final release of 1.4 to the public.

Gnucleus phoning home? you can look at the source, gnucleus checks for version updates, there is absolutly no data sent to gnucleus.net from gnucleus except for requesting a list of the latest versions and where to download them.