I noticed a news release on Avsim's front page, and went to research the package offered by Abacus. As with recent releases, it seems to contain many models that, in one form or another, are already available on popular sites--including the 757, BAE 146 and ATR....I have FSDS 2--it's a great product from Abacus--one which I should use more. But I am stumped as to why Abacus is selling these packages which seem below just about every payware standard (which doesn't mean they aren't excellent freeware models). Do users actually purchase them? I am curious if anyone here has, and whether the $20-30 bucks is a worthy investment vs. spending the same on one of Flight1's or PMDG's products.I'm also curious about the authors involved--I respect the names and enjoy their freeware work. But is this how they want their work presented? -John

I visit the Abacus website, with a fast ALT+F4 as result.It's a shame!--------------------GillyNetherlands

I looked at their CRJ and 757.....is this a joke? I suspect that people that buy these products are the ones that get FS who doesn't know that sites like Avsim.com, and Flightsim.com, etc, exists, where they can get high quality freeware addons and preview/get advice on payware addons. That HAS to be the market that Abacus is aiming for. I can't imagine anyone on Avsim getting any of those models/panels.I'm not bashing Abacus....to each his own. Maybe its just the screedshots that doesn't do the product justice, but somehow I doubt that.

Yep!!!!!!!!More GarBaaaaage from Abacus.....They just dont have a clue as to what the Sim Community demands.....

Both companies have a commuter package.Aerosoft online offers "Commuter Airlines" (Online addition of Eurowings 2004) for 34.95 Euro ($41.94 USD) with what looks like 3 planes with quite a number of liveries, a fairly accurate FMC, and a scenery of Nice.Abacus offers Commputer Xpress, that seems to add a beech 1900 and CRJ and substitutes the A319 for a 757 (Although I never considered a 757 a "commuter" plane) with a very "simplistic" looking FMC and costs $29.95.Has anyone had experience on one or both. If so, Is the Aerosoft version better, and if so, is it worth the extra 12 bucks?

Isn't that just Lonny Payne's great 757 panel in the Abacus package? Just from the screenshots, I'll just stick with freeware.

Well someone must be buying something because they are still in business. So they must have a market (-:Bob

I think these are planes by previously freeward designers - the ATR looks a lot like the wonderful FS2002 package that was not updated to 2004 because the designer decided to distribute that upgrade as payware through a publisher.

Jon's 146 is still available here--for free:http://arnz.myhost.co.nz/

Hello Will,OK, I beta-tested the Aerosoft package so I may be a little-bit biased, but I can give you a fairly good comparison. The strength of the Aerosoft package definitely lies in the ATR and the BAe aircraft. Both have very good exterior models, execellent panel graphics and a very good modelled systems simulation. A particular strength of both aicraft are their autopilots, which leave some work for the pilots to do - they dont feature autothrottle and and VNAV, so you have to bring the aicraft into stable climb by yourself :). The airbus is average, but it does definitely not compare to packages like PSS or Wilco. The flight dynamics of all three aircraft are really excellent.All three aircraft use the FMC which Dreamfleet introduced in the B737-400, with the VNAV and speed calculation parts inoperative in the Bae and ATRs. The FMC uses the same navigation database like the Dreamfleet FMC and can therefore make use of the ND updates from Richard Stefan.ATTENTION: All aircraft have models without a virtual cockpit. This may distract some potential customers. Personally I have no problem with this, as I don

>Jon's 146 is still available here--for free:>>http://arnz.myhost.co.nz/...which makes me think JohnCi - as this thread suggests, why buy if its free? Unless this has the Virtual cockpit.. i think i remember something mentioned about this in the arnz forums, which have now closed, btw - in fact, the entire site looks a bit dodgy at the moment if u read the news on there.. i suspect mr Murchison may have been tempted by the lure of profitable payware :-(But i ended up with the Aerosoft commuter airlines package - overall very impressive, Nice is really, really nice, BUT no VC - a pet gripe of mine, no BAE's with a VC...

i think this package comes with an FMC which you normally is shareware (by tony d'ambrosio?), that might account for some of the expense.MSFS sells a huge number of copies, yet a small proportion of that are going to be on sites like avsim and flightsim.com, hence packages like this serve a purpose to help people who don't want to spend ages downloading different planes and tweaking them.

I think there are lots of people out there, just like myself, who will only fly an airplane if it has a VC. So abacus takes advantage of this, throws together a below average VC and suckers people into buying them. Personally I was suckered into buying the perfect flights md-11 for the simple reason it was the only md-11 out there that had a VC...

I purchased the Abacus "Corporate Pilot" package when it first came out.I swore after that I would never buy another product from that company.Just my .02Regards,ScottKJMS

>I think there are lots of people out there, just like myself,>who will only fly an airplane if it has a VC. I think you are wrong.