Commercial Products: What should be standard?

[Guest]

I've been thinking about this for a while now. I would like to get some opinions on this from everyone. Then maybe the commercial guys will make the things listed here standard. Right now, I think things are too inconsistent among different developers. But a Standard list that should be included by all will hopefully go some way to solve this.My opinion is that any commercial add-on over $20 should include these basic things:My list:1. A .air file that works according to the numbers before the thing is released. Bug fixes should not have to be so much for the FM as for little problems with different computers.2. A load manager3. A "text-o-matic" to easily change liveries4. A fuel planner5. A cold and dark start-up situation6. A tutorial flight7. Reference charts specific to the model, not to the real world airline because these charts will be inaccurate based on the model and lead to confusion.8. Stated compatibility with specific operating systems. If it doesn't work with Win98...then that should be made clear to the buying public.That's my list for now. What do you guys think?Lagaz.

[Dillon 2,197]

Should also have a reasonably good VC. Users should not have to adjust display settings to run/use certain add-ons either. If you can run FS2002 at a reasonable level, you should have little or no framerate hit useing anything designed for the sim. PSS, Dreamfleet, and FSD to name a few have shown us this can be accomplished and it's not to much to ask for or expect...

[Guest]

OK, sounds reasonable. I think. I always think that software is released in an unfinished state and it is the only product you buy that is like that. I mean you wouldn't buy a car and wait for Cheverolet to release an engine so you could drive it would you.And the appologists and suck up's always come in with ' what do you expect for $20-25?' That is not the point, the pont is it should work and you shouldn't have to wait two months to get a product that does work!!!

[Guest]

Apart from point 8 and maybe point 7 none of these apply to anything BUT aircraft addons.Over half the addons out there are not aircraft, do you want all that as part of a piece of scenery or a weather program? :-lolTHE single most important thing I look for a commercial company is none of what you mention.I can live with an airfile that needs some tweaking to work correctly on my machine (I know that my machine will be different from the tested systems and that therefore some things may be slightly out of whack. I also know that my expectations of how the aircraft behaves are likely not (quite) correct for how it behaves in reality).I don't need a program to install textures. I can do that quite well myself. If not having such a program saves me $10 or so I can live without it thank you.Loadeditor is nice to have, but if the default loadout is realistic I can live with a fixed one.Cold and dark startup is a good one. Tutorial is a given (but see next!)Now coming to the most important thing of all: SUPPORT!THE single most important thing for a commercial product is the support. If the support is good, no great, I can live with imperfections or even glaring errors in the initial release because I KNOW that those errors will be fixed quickly. If the fix takes a bit longer I will KNOW that that is not because the company doesn't care but because the problems are worse than suspected.If they can't fix it, they'll also offer compensation to the users who bought the product (whether a refund or credit towards future purchases).I class documentation (and tutorials are part of that) as part of support.You mention charts and specs as correct for the simulated model and not the real aircraft. That used to be the standard. But then people started asking for realworld docs instead and companies obliged.