I Loathe FSDT's COUATL!

[virtuali 4,421]

Circles and circles. Trying to explain to me the difference between 0 and o which I have neither in my serial number., I also stated that I knew that I was out of activations!!!!!!!!!!!!

No, you haven't. You stated you were getting a message about being out of activations on your SECOND email ONLY.

 

On your FIRST email, the ONLY error you reported was the ""This doesn't seem to be a correct Serial for KDFW", and THIS error ONLY appears if you TYPE the Serial wrong.

 

When I replied you typed your Serial wrong, you replied "I am typing serial# correctly, I am not an idiot", and in THIS 2nd reply, you added the "I was out of times to re-activate this product" line.

 

I would like to clarify one thing here. Umberto was not the person that was replying to my emails.

I was. How you could possibly think otherwise, considering that ALL my email contains my signature, and I also wrote this, on my reply to you here?

 

This is what happened to you, and you know very well, because I've explained it to you quite clearly in my email.

I will say that by the time he did reply, I deleted message and moved on

I always suspected that you haven't even bothered to read my replies carefully enough, fact you haven't noticed my signature, seems to confirm this...

 

 

The product is GREAT, its the activation process that stinks

WRONG, the activation system works very well. It's YOU THAT:

 

- Tried to insert a Serial Number for an order which was RETURNED

 

AND

 

- Failed to say in your FIRST email message, that you had ANOTHER error when you tried with the OTHER Serial, because that one was activated too many times.

 

Again, how this could have anything to do with the "activation stinks" nonsense, when BOTH issues were caused by you confusing the returned order with the good one, and you failure to communicate this properly in your first email, is really beyond me.

 

As soon you finally added the "I was out of times to re-activate this product" sentence, I could figure it out what the problem was, and your activation has been added, so you could reactivate the product without any issues.

[MarkW 1,495]

Hi Umberto:

 

I'm not about to join the fray here - only to ask that you do not allow the forum tone to affect your creative, artistic and programming skills - nor your professional demeanour when managing consumer issues. These will always be present, regardless of application complexity.

 

Many thank you for your courageous responses, but - in your own words - "It seems there's no way out of this." 

 

All the Best,

 

Paul J

 

 

+1

 

After reading the first post I am guessing I have had no issues because I have FSX installed in another directory F:/.   I had one small issue where KJFK did not show up and all I did was reinstall COUTL engine and it was fixed.  Umberto helped me out very quickly with the solution.

[virtuali 4,421]

While I appreciate Umberto's explanation of what COUATL accomplishes in the scenery and all the bells and whistles it provides... it still doesn't address the primary issue: Why is the DRM management software integrated with the scripting software?

 

It has been addressed many times in the past. For obvious reasons of efficiency and ease of maintenance and not having undeeded duplications of functions.

 

 

Why the are they not separate?

 

What difference would make if they were ?

 

 

While the custom scripts have every right to work inside the FSX environment; most agree that the DRM portion does not.

 

You are again victim of the typical misunderstanding of confusing the interface with the actual functions.

 

A common mistake is thinking that "the DRM" are all things related to purchase and activation that you, as an user, interact with. The buttons to Register a Serial, the buttons to Deactivate, the Buy buttons, you probably think this IS "the DRM".

 

Well, it's not.

 

Those functions are ONLY the user interface you need to use to manage the DRM, but they don't DO much. Most of the "work" these buttons do, is just:

 

- Insert your Serial Number in the registry when you want to activate. You could do it manually, if you want. Or you can use the .REG file. It's the same.

 

- Removing your activation keys from the registry, when you want to deactivate and telling Esellerate server your product has been Deactivated, so they'll increase the available activation count.

 

So, the only thing the Addon Manager does, is simply configure Esellerate in your Windows installation, to be aware of your activation. But what these functions really DO, to protect the scenery (or the product, like GSX) when it runs INSIDE FSX ?  Nothing, of course.

 

Let's assume for a moment, that we had the interface to Purchase, Register and Deactivate as an EXTERNAL program. You might be happier to see that's nothing related to "the DRM" APPEARS in your FSX menu so, what difference would make this, other than you'll have an Addon Manager menu with LESS options ? None, of course.

 

Even if all the DRM "managing" part was in an external program, something that you might run only when you need to purchase/register/activate something, in order for the DRM to WORK in FSX, on the products it's supposed to protect, there will always be some kind of module that will to handle the scenery creation according to the activation status.

 

This module, which MUST run together with FSX, would have to:

 

- Interact with Esellerate as well, just like the Addon Manager and Couatl are doing now, otherwise how it would possibly know if something is activated or not ?

 

- Handle FSX objects creation/deletion, which is what they do now

 

- Use strong encryption AND protection against tampering, which is what will make it somewhat unfriendly to antivirus and a couple of system utilities.

 

Now, for ALL reasons explained before about scripting abilities, interactive objects and everything else, which I've explained in my previous post, we need the ability to control the appearance of objects under our control, for MANY reasons, other than the DRM. We need such features anyway, for the interactivity so, simply integrating the protection with them, is the most logical and easier to test/debug/maintain thing to do, instead of having TWO separate systems that would have to do the same thing which basically is, turn ON/OFF objects because of interactivity needs, or turn ON/OFF objects because the Trial has expired or the activation is not valid anymore.

 

Why duplicating functions across separate modules, considering they will all must run in FSX anyway ?

 

As an example, if a certain script is checking it an object should be displayed or not, because it's Winter, it's way more efficient to simply modify that same conditional check and have that object if it's Winter AND the scenery is activated...

 

That's why there will be no advantage "separating" the DRM from the interactivity, we could separate the DRM User Interface, but what makes it work IS just one case of interactivity.

[Ron Attwood 3,474]

OK, I've kept quiet for long enough on this thread. :mad:  Would some kind admin please put an E on the end of 'loath'?

Thank you,

Ron out. :smile:

[simmerhead 885]

Umberto, many of us would only be happy if there was no DRM, activation or any of that crap. I'm sure you have very good and thought through reasons for doing things they way you do it. As a customer I have no other choice than to take it or leave it. You can't win 'em all, so don't sweat it.

 

Attacking your customers and implying they are idiots because they struggle with activation issues does more harm than good. If there was no activation system some people wouldn't have run into trouble in the first place. Usability is about making things idiot proof. Whenever you require action from your customers they are in jeopardy of doing mistakes.

 

For many of us purchasing and installing addons is time consuming and tedious. We spend enough time getting FSX to run, not to mention the stacks of manuals and books we read to get aircraft off the ground. FSDT is just one of many developers, each having their own way of doing things, their own shop, their own support forum etc. Time is money and some of us have to work to afford your goodies. With limited time to spare it should come as no surprise that people might get frustrated when they run into trouble. All they wanted to do was to use your stunning scenery and have fun. When you set the bar high, people will have great expectations from your product. That can be both a blessing and a curse. 

[pete_auau 1,163]

 

 

because they struggle with activation issues does more harm than good

 

Let me think here  since  when is  fsdt  is  the only  addon that has  activation problems, I do believe  there are a few users  that own pmdg  aircraft  have had  activation probems  as well. 

[simmerhead 885]

Let me think here  since  when is  fsdt  is  the only  addon that has  activation problems, I do believe  there are a few users  that own pmdg  aircraft  have had  activation probems  as well. 

 

Let me be clear that I have not implied anywhere that this is a FSDT problem only.

 

These safeguards are widely used in the biz. Just like the music and movie industry, the software industry fights piracy by punishing loyal paying customers with added hassle. I don't think it will change. As a result I just buy less products and spend my money elsewhere on other hobbies.

[virtuali 4,421]

Umberto, many of us would only be happy if there was no DRM, activation or any of that crap.

Now you are raising an entirely different issue, which is the very legitimacy of HAVING the right to protect our work. 

 

By having a whole programming system inside FSX that allows a lot of innovative features and ALSO does DRM, simply means we are giving users something in exchange, not just the DRM.

 

Would you be happier if the our modules did *just* DRM ? i don't think so.

 

Wouldn't be nice if piracy wasn't a problem, so we wouldn't even need a DRM to begin with ? Sure, but that's not the world we live in.

 

Yes, there are flightsim developers that don't use any kind of DRM but, how many of them do this as their only full-time job and keep it as a sustainable business for years ?

Now, if you please, I would really like to go back doing what I had planned for the week: modeling an high-loader cargo model, in order to be use the main cargo door for the PMDG 777, MD11, 747 and other large freighters. Free of charge, of course, for all GSX users...

[1mikel151 71]

Let me be clear that I have not implied anywhere that this is a FSDT problem only.

 

These safeguards are widely used in the biz. Just like the music and movie industry, the software industry fights piracy by punishing loyal paying customers with added hassle. I don't think it will change. As a result I just buy less products and spend my money elsewhere on other hobbies.

 

 

There it is again, the whole "I don't care if you lose out to stealing, I want what i want and i want it now" routine. A typical consumer response from someone that is not on the receiving end of lost sales and seeing their work on torrent sites. You want no DRM, do something to stop piracy other than complaining about inconvenience.

 

Umberto, seeing your responses in this thread about what actually goes on behind the scenes and how many non default features are implemented have made me feel better about your products. Now do more smaller, regional airports so I will have some more choices, LOL.

[tttocs 301]

 

 

Attacking your customers and implying they are idiots because they struggle with activation issues does more harm than good.

 

In what way did he attack a customer?  He certainly stepped in and defended his position, but I think that's almost a business necessity. Let the facts flow on both sides of the discussion and the customers decide from there.  My only purpose in posting something was to make sure those who HAVEN'T used these products could clearly see that not everyone experiences issues.

 

 

 

As the OP stated, it has to do with frustrated customers, voicing what they (and I) feel is justified grievance, on neutral terratory. So telling us to use the FSDT forum completely misses the whole point of the thread.

I guess i'm probably just feeding the trolls, and should know better by now.

. 

 

Dougal, I hope you're not suggesting that anyone who disagrees with your position is a "troll".  Given that the very topic uses the word "loath" [sic] (sorry Ron) suggests a fair bit of emotion right from the get go, and satisfied customers (as well as the vendor) have a right to present an alternative view.  Again, let the discussion continue on both sides and if you really think someone is trolling, just ignore them.

 

 

 

 

Would some kind admin please put an E on the end of 'loath'?

 

I expect they're loath to do that.  :lol:

 

Scott

[Dougal 165]

Oh don't be silly Scott.  I didn't say that at ALL and you know it.  Are just looking to argue or what?

 

As for Ron asking for the thread to end - why?  Just because you don't have any issues?

EDIT:  There's been good and OPEN stuff from BOTH sides and I for one applaud the mods for keeping it going.

[pete_auau 1,163]

Umberto has  answered  the  questions  what else  you expect him to do, keep on repeating  himself  again

[RudiJG1 172]

As for Ron asking for the thread to end - why?  Just because you don't have any issues?

EDIT:  There's been good and OPEN stuff from BOTH sides and I for one applaud the mods for keeping it going.

 

 

LOL...no, Ron didn't ask for it to end...he just wanted to see the word "loathe" spelled properly!  :lol:

[Dougal 165]

LOL...no, Ron didn't ask for it to end...he just wanted to see the word "loathe" spelled properly!  :lol:

lol

[pete_auau 1,163]

 

 

one applaud the mods for keeping it going.

 

It was locked  till Umberto ask the  mod  to reopen it  again