18MAY07 - General Updates

[mburkhard 23]

Now this is interesting... When I read your post here I tried again... same results! Clicking shows the website, moving around causes a big mess with disappearing elements...Marc, if you read, should you need me for testing just let me know...Markus

[Tabs 2,790]

Ok guys,I can reproduce the problem here as well now. I hadn't tried to actually click links etc before, just brought up the page and assumed it was fine.Use Firefox for now until we can figure out what's causing it...

[Tabs 2,790]

Can you guys try it now in Safari - it's working perfectly for me. We had a few CSS and Java errors that seem to have been at fault, but it's all fixed now as far as we can tell.

[mburkhard 23]

Works perfectly well now! :)Markus

[Guest stesoell]

Thank you. It works fine now. Ciao,Stefan Soellner

[ahuimanu 50]

>Could you guys simply explain the $ to Euro change? Please?Because the conspiracy to depress the dollar to sub-saharan bananna republic levels is working...Jeff

[Guest D17S]

Not a conspiracy really, more like a force of nature. Water level analogies generally work well, but since this is about airplanes, maybe a weather metaphor might do. A natural phenomenon will eventually occur between a high pressure system and a low pressure system. It's called the wind.As the dollar weakens, more dollars can be purchased by other currencies. US folks have probably read that the US has become a European shopping mecca because one Euro will now buy a $1.35. European folks are even more aware of this and probably planning their neXt shopping trip to the US! Remember when a Euro would only buy 87 cents? Woah, if I had Euros, I want to buy my stuff in dollars . . . because I get more stuff! For years, there have been more goods coming into the US than going out (technically called the US Trade Deficit). The dollar was strong and the US could buy lots of foreign stuff. Finally that flow is reversing. As more and more people wise up to this current currency dynamic, more and more US goods will be purchased by the world. US stuff is becoming cheaper! What we have accumulated in the US will begin to flow back out into the world. The delta between the pressure systems (US vs the World) finally became too great and nature is taking over. The flow is reversing. The dollar is weakening, finally. This is simply an economic force of nature. It is the wind. OK. if you were a smart US business, how would you play this? Consider this generic, well formed financial strategy. Price as much of your product - as you possibly could - in a foreign currency. If Europe was a big customer, how about Euros. Why? The currency wind is starting to blow. Here's the detail: As the dollar weakens, it takes more and more dollars to buy a Euro. Right? Consider the flip side. As the dollar weakens, each Euro (you can lay your hands on!) can be swapped for more and more dollars. If I'm an American company and can price my product in Euros, my currency swap from Euros back into dollars is going to get better and better the lower the dollar goes. I will get more and more dollars for the same amount of Euros. I WanT the dollar to weaken . . . the more the better! I won't have to raise prices in Euros, just let nature take its course. My income will go up all by itself. Every Euro I can bring in will translate in to a higher and higher dollar amount. Its magic! Every US company that can do this, iS doing this this . . . because it's smart business. If the dollar weakens another 10% next year, US goods priced in Euros will make an extra 10% . . . just for being a smart business.Nice job, gentlemen.

[Guest Hocking]

It's only good business if your business is being an exchange rate speculator, speculating on the foreign exchange markets. Might I add, the foreign exchange markets is one of the most difficult financial markets to accurately predict future activity in. It can be a very volatile market based on interest rate differentials, terrorist activities, economic activity within various countries, and macroeconomic controls used in various countries.This is extremely risky for businesses that are based in one country to price their goods and services in another countries currency. It may be a good move for today, but what happens when the dollar unexpectedly shoots back up because our countries economy takes off and the federal reserve board raises interest rates to fight off inflation, so here comes everyone after dollars again because they will get a higher interest rate return here with dollars than anywhere else in the world. Now that the dollar is priced high again, that US based company will now be getting cheap euros to convert back into more expensive dollars so they can pay their dollar denominated operating expenses here in the United States. As far as their US based customers, they will be paying less dollars now because of the dollar-to-Euro conversion rate favors them now. This is only one scenario out of many that could play out very quickly (within months).I am not saying PMDG should not price their product in Euros by the way. There is certain ways to hedge this additional risk away in currency futures markets, and other derivative markets where you can reduce this risk if you are willing to pay the price. That is totally up to them, and quite frankly, I could care less. We do not have all the necessary information to analyze their business decision, and they don't want us doing that anyway so I won't. However, from an economic perspective, companies should price their goods and services in the currencies that they operate in only. If you operate in both the US and Europe, then you should price in dollars for US operations, and the Euro for European operations. That is the only way you have to assure yourself you will be receiving the same currency that you pay your operating expenses in, and you don't have to pay extra expenses in hedging away currency valuation risks. Eric

[Guitarman 0]

Hello Robert,After being offline for a few weeks because of working on my new house, I read the forum with the General Updates now. My congrats and many thanks for these updates.I had the same impression like Marc did on your first reply, I couldn't get your sarcastic opinion. But reading your 2nd reply, I got your joke now. You are a fair man to me. I wished I knew you personally but that's not possible...Since the first release of your B-744, I am a PMDG customer and will always be, even for the coming FSX version, NGX and ofcourse your MD-11. About your comment in reply #26, you talk about "... users always want to see drama between the developers". There will always be people who are never satisfied and like it to setup developers to each other. Ofcourse there are other people who compare packages and give their comments, ask for additions, etc. I also have the LDS, I don't wanna lie about it. But your 'birds' and the LDS are totally different aircrafts. So, don't worry at all. I know you and your team want to develop as good and as realistic as possible. Forget the negative comments and don't look back. Well, in that same reply from you, I read your fairness again to Wade and the LDS team. You are a GREAT MAN, Robert. You are "Like a Rock", a Bob Seger song.My best regards,Peter

[Guest pakket]

The only reasons for constant delay at releasing a product from PMDG is probably the slow rate they work and that they want perfection. The delays where there in the past and probably in the future. I wonder what they like to know from ACES, as ACES gave all the information they had in FSX SP1. If you are in a Beta test i don't expect that you still need information From ACES, because a Beta test means that the product is finished with a last test round( plese not a 1000 cycle tour as the real aircraft).Other complex products where patched after SP 1 and released for FSX( 767-300Er etc), so why the 747- 400 is still on a hold?. common guys most of us just want to fly this plane in FSX, new or old it does'nt matter!Best regards, Martijn

[rgamurot 1]

Considering they started the 747X over from scratch, I would hardly say they work at a slow rate. Yes, the LDS763 was released but have a look at the screen shots. It looks like the same bird updated to work in FSX (not to say it isn't already a wonderful aircraft). With the 747X, it is an entirely new aircraft with updated features but also new ones as well. And ACES may have given out all the information for FSX SP1, but they also weren't trying to make the PMDG 747X. PMDG is adding new features that ACES wasn't to know about or the effects it would have on them. Both sides can't always plan their products for each other from the start. Don't criticise PMDG for the excellent work they've been doing. If they didn't care about us and didn't want to give us the best product possible, they would've given us the 747X before SP1 came out and would leave us to sort out the problems.Ryan GamurotLucky to live Hawai'ihttp://www.virtualpilots.org/signatures/vpa296.png

[Guest mffelicio]

> PMDG is probably the slow rate they work Yes, I agree.PMDG = TURTLE.:-lol Especially in the MD-11.Mauricio