LOL! You're so funny Allcott. Hilarious actually.Take care,Elrond

Hi Guys,Well, I hope it dosen't take tooooooo long for AVSIM to do a review of this service, I know Tom said he would look into it. I hope it happens very soon. I know they will also be impressed with this service and give it a thumbs up.Mike

Oh good lord... I absolutely DO NOT KNOW everything there is to know about ANYTHING! Clearly, you don't know me from adam! LOL! Most people who have been here for more than a few months know me very well and are absolutely CLEAR about that! I'm nothing but upfront about my lack of knowledge when I truly don't have it! LOL.What I AM scared to death about is simple: people stopping the sharing of ideas when a company packages and sells those exact same ideas, but in a new and unique way. The package, method and selling of that is fine, cutting off the sharing and development of those existing ideas and, much more important, *new ideas* is not.Simple eh? Back from fantasyland for you.Elrond

Hi Elrond,You have NOTHING to lose by using their service, if your computer setup is so great by all the FREE information that is out there that you have utilized, FSGS will not be able to help you, as a result, you pay nothing!!!.What are you afraid of, call them!!!Mike

"The statements I made concerning ignorance and laziness were not meant to shame anyone, but to express, in as blunt a manner as possible, the source of FSGS' income. In fact, I freely admitted my own shortcomings. But I don't need their service. FS9 runs well for me, and if it didn't, I would make it so... or stop using it. I used tweaks discussed at AVSIM to get my sim running well."Dick, by your logic, the entire service industry should not exist. If everyone in the world is in some way capable of doing everything by themselves, then what is the need for anyone to perform any service for someone else? No need to go to a restaurant for good food because you should be able to make it all yourself right? No need for an auto mechanic because with enough time you could figure out every last working of that engine and the associated componets... This type of thinking of course does not hold up in the real world. In fact, the food analogy is a very good one for what this FS-GS service is - you can have all the ingredients sitting in front of you to make some exquisite gourmet dish - now of course unless you have the knowlege of a chef that allows you to combine those ingredients to make the dish, you still have nothing but ingredients. The Chef didn't invent the ingredients, but he DID invent the final dish that results from the combining of them. To me that's what the FS-GS service is like.FS-GS and those who've used the service made claims that it could massively improve how FS runs - that is something I'm interested in as a hardcore simmer, so I decided to try it. Don't forget too that you only decide if it was worth paying for AFTER the service - I most definitely did think it was worth it. That's all I even have to think about - you guys are the same ones who bash payware companies for not adhering to some idealized notion that the flight simming hobby should be without any cost, even when we're talking about modeling a modern airliner in exacting detail. You're never going to convince me that an expert's (in ANY field) time and knowlege aren't worth anything.

Hi Mike,I may do that at some point when I'm not so busy. I don't have the opportunity to use FS or any other game much these days, unfortunately, since I'm so tied up with work. But thats beside the point.You seem to be confused in a big way: I have no doubt the service is real, that they can indeed provide a great boost to the average system or even most supposedly "tweaked" systems. I have no doubt in the least, because I've been deep in the computer industry for most of my life and have seen the state of most computers - game machines or no.All of that is irrelevant, however. What is relevant that you seem to be ultimately confused by is simple: taking public domain ideas and making people feel guilty about sharing them again after receiving this service.For have no doubt, all tweaks they provide are known... Its the excellent research to put them all in an extremely useful sequence tailored to specific setups that you are praising. The knowledge it relies upon is public domain however and needs to CONTINUE to be developed by the public.But indeed, at some point I'll probably take their service when I can afford a block of hours. And any non-proprietary information provided I promise I'll continue to share with others to the best of my abilities.Take care,Elrond

Hi srburger.Even Allcot could remind you this is capitalism and a service business... hardly new concepts.And although Elrond may know everything there is to know, I do not. ;)I don't have a problem with FSGS' service... it's VERY obvious they deliver a better working system to many simmers that are having poor experiences with FS9. Do I need to write that again?I personally have a problem spending more for a tweak, than for the original program... but a frustrated simmer will spend big bucks to make the bad things go away. And that's OK if that is the price of happiness. $60 isn't going to break most families. And most simmers will not take the time or effort to optimise their operating systems.What I am scared of:My fellow simmers are accepting the concept of happiness being an extension of their pocketbooks, when it could come as a result of their own time and effort.We can buy airplanes for the sim... or we could make our own... or we could just learn to master the planes MS has given us, or collect the planes others have made. We could buy scenery... or we could make our own... or we could just explore what MS has given us in the sim, or collect the sceneries of others.Of all those choices, "buying" is my least favorite. Making my own is very satisfying. Collecting freeware scenery and planes from others is also very satisfying, as I know the effort they made, to give me that freeware. They are giving me their knowledge and talent and time.We can now buy a service to optimise the sim environment. If you think throwing money at FS9 will bring contentment, then you are mistaken. That is exactly what is scary in this hobby.Dick

Saw your post Ryan (and Elronds, and Dick's)...I've avoided these discussions since I provide systems support and have a strong inclination towards some secrets staying out there--so I have less competition--more on that in a sec :)I hold FSGS in high respect for what they do--the devil in support is via the phone. I'd like to say (and I readily believe it true) that I can improve anyone's system here if it is running below its potential, in less than an hour, provided I was there in person.To do it all over the phone and have customers applaud the service--that shows a great deal of talent as I've gotten myself stuck in some real quagmires over the phone. You can never really know if what you're hearing is what the truth is unless you ask just the right questions mixed with just the right amount of intuition--and sometimes lucky guesses.Still, Elrond is right in saying that the information shared is public domain. Even after doing what I do for fifteen years, I always run into something new. But type enough of the PC's symptoms into Google, and I have yet to fail in finding an answer. No one should feel sworn to secrecy--or be made to swear to secrecy--for anything FSGS does. Their talent isn't in what they know--it is in what they know combined with their skills in applying it in the toughest of support environments. But I guarantee you they do what I do--if they run into a gotcha on the phone with a customer, they query the same resources I do or that anyone could do, given the time and motivation. Is it money well spent. If you get paid $10 an hour, and it takes you twelve hours to learn all the tricks to optimize your system...at least one should value their time on what they get paid.So $60.00 for someone to coach you through the process is a bargain--and dang it I don't have the phone support talent to pull off what they do :(

Not to be belittling Allcott in the least, but are you really being that obtuse on purpose? The point of this thread has been written now, what, four times? Ok, I'll write it again.This thread has nothing to do with anything you just wrote. The service they are providing has NOTHING to do with this thread (that I created, so I should know, don't you think? :-)). This thread is about you and me, and everyone reading this who may USE their service. Its about cutting off the air supply to sharing what was public information after using this service.Why not help others with public information if you can after using this service - if you were willing to do so before using it? Read the first post again... The thread had absolutely nothing to do with FSGS the service: it has to do with the PEOPLE on this board reacting to that service.Get it yet? Probably not, unfortunately.Take care,Elrond

Gentlemen, some food for thought. I have read all the reasons offered for "freely sharing" all the information. One thought troubles me. By that reasoning it would be silly to pay ANYONE for ANY service because the knowledge required to perform that service is available to everyone. And it is. Of course, some services require special skills as well. But again, those are also "freely" available to all of us if we want to acquire them.As for the intense feelings some folks seem to have about others utilizing a service and not sharing the knowledge, and without singling anyone out, it strikes me the same as most other issues people get upset over. It is entirely up to the individual whether or not he/she shares that information. It really isn't anyone else's business to tell them whether they should or should not. Each of us can choose for ourselves whether or not we wish to share such knowledge. But none of us has any right to criticize another person who chooses not to. The way that person interprets the issue may cause such sharing to appear unethical. And there is nothing at all wrong with someone trying to be ethical even if you may disagree with their interpretation. If the knowledge is so easily obtainable why pressure any one person to give it to you anyway? Just go get it somewhere else. Getting in an uproar because someone won't share knowledge with you that is freely available from so many other sources is a tempest in a teapot.We should make our own choices and allow others to make theirs. In my opinion it is good, and productive, to share ideas and opinions. But is becomes counter-productive and a bit foolish when we get upset if everyone doesn't agree with ours.Dewey

EXACTLY what I evidently failed to say well enough, John.I have absolutely ZERO problem with them selling the method (as you say, them doing it over the phone, effectively, and not even using remote control - pretty amazing).The problem I have, again, is with people who don't believe they can or should continue to help others after using this service. If you weren't going to help other to begin with, fine. But if its your nature to help where you can, using this service shouldn't preclude you doing so afterwards. Why? Because the knowledge gained is already public domain... As you said, available out there if you just had the time or desire to look it all up.The service is fine and dandy with me since its clear their developed method is effective: the attitude of those who have used it not wanting to help others with the public knowledge they've learned afterwards is disturbing.Thanks John and good to see ya,Elrond

Hi Ryan,>Of course FS-GS doesn't "own" ideas or tweak methods, but they do have an intellectual property right over the service itself and the way they add everything together to create the final result.:). However, there's nothing stopping me looking over the plumber's shoulder and telling my mate afterwards how to install his new sink. Of course, he could call the plumber instead and have the thing installed in half the time without lifting a finger himself, and safe in the knowledge that it will work. The plumber can claim no intellectual property rights for his method, his skills and quality of his work are his only selling points - the same goes for FSGS.It would be dangerous to go down the road of attempting to attach any IP rights to methods, as this poses a very real danger of halting progress.Cheers,Gosta. http://www.hifisim.com/images/as2betateam.jpg

I've never seen such a heated discussion amongst people who basically want the same thing -- those who have paid for a service, and found it great, and those who really really really really want the same service, but want someone to give it to them. All the promotional experts in the world couldn't set out to devise such a great campaign for their client's product! Good on ya, FSGS.I liked the doctor analogy. This works great until one of your friends dies. Hey, who knew?And in six month's time we'll see posts here saying 'hey, that FSGS is a load of bollocks, a friend of mine who had a friend who talked to someone who used the service gave me the same service, and now my performance is worse!'Then FSGS can step in and make a pile of money fixing the mess:)

Elrond, I have to admit that I believe much of what you say is right, so it would be great if you can tell us where we might begin to look for suitable tweaks for various systems. Assuming that what you are referring to are hardware setup tweaks, rather than being specific to FS as I'm sure that side has been and continues to be adequately covered here. You have made a strong point in favour of sharing information and have absolutely convinced me that you know where this information is. I'm not suggesting at all that you have to do it, however I would look forward to seeing you post some good pointers in the Hardware Discussion section. Regards,

Hi Charlie,As my freely usable time is stretched so thin lately, I haven't been around the forums in quite a while to help anyone out. I'll provide any specific help as possible if you need it right now in the hardware forum, etc. (or as soon as I can).To be more useful at the moment, however, I'll try and post a bunch of links to excellent and specific hardware forums and resources where you can get some of the best advice on specific topics on the net. I'll try to do so tonight, or sometime the weekend.Take care,Elrond