FS9! Don't be skeptical, JUST TRY IT

[Guest jhaley]

Thank goodness someone has some common sense enough to at least attempt an understanding. Someone compared my comments to a time share program. Well, to each their own I suppose, at least they've indicated they're bowing out of discussions. And I'll be the first to apologize if the initial post came across as a paid advertisement. But that's simply not the case. I'm such a huge supporter of this guy's work and all I'm trying to do is spread the satisfaction I've received by attempting to tell people all they have to do is try it. Been flamed for the title of the post too, been flamed for repeating the comments on another post. It's totally ridiculous, and yes I'd say of course the title of the post would sound misleading, but my intentions in posting remain sincere and that's at the foundation for making these comments. It's a title to post after all, it only takes a second to realize the subject matter. Its like I duped people into spending money for the service. You don't like the content, click "back", it's pretty easy. You know, for heaven's sake if you don't agree that's fine and if you don't want to read it or try it, think I'll lose sleep tonight? All this has been, is an attempt to spread the word about this service. If you try it and like what you see, where is the harm in that? If you try it and you find your no better off, at least you tried. You don't pay one cent prior to the service, can it be any more simply stated than this? I spoke to Michael Greenblatt through messenger and so it cost nothing. I spent an afternoon on line with him he tweaked my system and I paid nothing until I was finished and was satisfied with the end results. I'll try and answer anything I can about the service, I don't think its exactly fair to answer anything I don't understand. I think all your questions can be answered at the site, or by Michael Greenblatt himself. Saying again, despite what some are feeling, the intentions in posting this are sincere and come from a totally satisfied user, despite however you're interpreting the comments. John Haley

[Guest lcseds]

*I* think this thread has been played out.

[John_Cillis 2,406]

"Someone in this thread said that no charge unless satisfied is a "high pressure" tactic?"That's not what I said! I was referring to the "just try it" attitude with no specifics offered, and I have reiterated that over and over in my replies. Simply put, "just try it" wouldn't compel me to waste 2, maybe three hours unless I had some baseline comparisons. Time certainly isn't free unless you have no job, no family, and/or no other obligations.That's why I drew a comparison with time share presentations. And I have been careful to say that this is a situation where one overzealous user is damaging a reputation of a company that HAS helped users here. But until SOMEONE comes in and says what areas of their system were improved, with documentation, I won't recommend anything "free" just as I'd never recommend someone accept free tickets to Seaworld in exchange for attending a time share presentation. Anyway, please don't take my words out of context again to make a point. 'Nuff saidEdit: Saw John's reply--I am "out" of discussion but won't tolerate my comments being taken out of context.

[Dirk98 354]

>*I* think this thread has been played out.Well, but it may has achieved its goal.:-hah

[oqvist 11]

Not being flamed about title but come on!Don

[Dirk98 354]

>Not being flamed about title but come on!>>Don

[John_Cillis 2,406]

Michael,I suspect the reason these posts come across as they do is the users feel they are tongue tied for one reason or another. Perhaps now is the time to clarify what users can tell us vs. what they can't. IF (I really have no idea) they are restricted or "lobbied" to speak of your service in some way, then your own policy would be creating advertising opportunity every time someone tries to praise your service, since the only way one could really know would be to try your service. End result--people, perhaps innocent people, get flamed and your service's reputation goes down a notch.I doubt that's your business model. I suspect that users have misinterpreted your intentions and perhaps you can shift them into sharing what was changed--not how it was changed, although I seriously doubt you have proprietary information about any of the components involved in an optimized MSFS install. Still, how you provide the service should be protected lest some other person or team start doing the same thing.-John

[Guest Michael_CFII_SEL]

Hi Guys,Quote"Someone in this thread said that no charge unless satisfied is a "high pressure" tactic?"That's not what I said! I was referring to the "just try it" attitude with no specifics offered, and I have reiterated that over and over in my replies. Simply put, "just try it" wouldn't compel me to waste 2, maybe three hours unless I had some baseline comparisons. End QuoteWant specifics, who better to talk to than the man himself. No-one here is better qualified to give you the answers you want than FSGS at NO COST TO YOU. Your not happy with the results, "YOU PAY NOTHING". You have questions about the process, ASK FSGS the questions, you WILL get answers. Don't like the answers, don't use the service!!!Mike

[Guest SoarPics]

"Well, but it may has achieved its goal."Perhaps not. The fact that some FS-GS customers continue to infer that we're all crazy if we don't try the service certainly does not help FS-GS's reputation (though I do find it entertaining that these same customers invariably close their posts with something like, "Oh well, I couldn't care less if you people don't try this service". If that's the case why was the thread even started in the first place???). And Mr. Greenblatt's atitudes don't help matters any as well.I'll go with JohnCi on this one. Too much subjective excitement (bordering on rhetoric in some cases) and not enough objective substance.Greg

[John_Cillis 2,406]

"Want specifics, who better to talk to than the man himself. No-one here is better qualified to give you the answers you want than FSGS at NO COST TO YOU. Your not happy with the results, "YOU PAY NOTHING". You have questions about the process, ASK FSGS the questions, you WILL get answers. Don't like the answers, don't use the service!!!"Boy, this is like talking to a stone fence! If someone here says "FSD's Avanti is great", when they're asked to show us some examples of the product, they gladly deliver. When FS2004 was released from beta, the testers posted the good, the badm and the ugly. We're weren't told to go to Microsoft's site, to call Bill Gates on the phone, and to listen to an hour's presentation on the product.Users here don't want to talk to salespeople (and MG, providing a service, is selling something). Users want to communicate with their peers in terms other than general, glossy, smiley faced praise. Why are MG's customers so tight lipped about the service and what it did for them?Something really stinks here, IMHO

[Tabs 2,790]

If some of you remember, I did the FS-GS service early last year. I was impressed enough with the result to pay and learned several tweaks and tricks that I did not know and had *not* seen posted on any of the forums and/or tweaking sites. To me that was honestly the most valuable thing - I did know about quite a few of the things Michael does and in several cases had already done them before he suggested them, but several of those ones I didn't know about are now automatic things I do when reformatting my system. (which I've probably done 5 times since the service) As a result, all of my apps (not just FS) perform better. I'm not going to sit here and say that this is going to revolutionize everyone's FS experience (though it very well may if you had no idea what you were doing with your system prior) but as a very experienced PC builder and user, I *was* impressed enough with it that I thought it was worth the cost in the end because of extra knowlege I gained that I hadn't seen anywhere else.I still don't buy the argument that offering this as a payware service is illegitimate. If LDS or PMDG suddenly told us all the logic behind programming an FMC, would that mean we could all just make their products ourselves? This is a market economy folks, if you don't think something on said market is worth paying for, then by all means don't do it. At the same time though, don't insinuate that people who did think it was worth it are incompetent (anyone from the PMDG beta team can tell you I know my stuff cold on PC hardware and setup) or that there's some form of trickery going on - there isn't.I will concede that there should be an impartial review of Michael's service done by AVSIM though, just like any other payware product.

[John_Cillis 2,406]

Ryan--Posts like yours do help. Your reply was excellent, without coming across as pushy and without putting down the experience of the forum community, as one line in the post that opened this thread suggested. I agree--it would help MG and the community if some agreement vs. a review could come to pass.-John

[Guest Michael_CFII_SEL]

Hi,1.There's a big difference between the software "products" you mention and a "service" that is provided.2. You said you wanted answers, I told you where to get them.Seems to me you don't want the answers, now all of a sudden, its users here don't want to talk to sales people, users want to communicate with peers.You have an opportunity to get all the answers you requested in the above post by talking to Michael at FSGS.Mike

[srburger 0]

I think that the FS-GS "advertisements" that come out periodically are simply satisfied customers who are (perhaps overzealously) desirous of sharing the news of a pleasant experience. I used this service about a year ago. Michael Greenblatt is very good at what he does, and I can say from personal experience that he treats his customers well. Using FS-GS is a lot like having a computer guru friend come over and spend an evening tweaking your system for you, and that's the way Michael comes across when you're working with him.What he does is reconfigure your computer so that when you're simming, you're using only the services required by MS Flight Simulator. When you're not simming, and after a restart, you can do anything with your computer that you would have been able to do before. In other words, you have the best of both worlds. More importantly, on the sim side he changes settings both in the computer system and in the sim itself to further improve performance. Some of the changes were things I might have played with on my own, and some were in places I would never have known to look (and would not have known what to do with even if I had known to look there).During our session, he answered my questions about tweaks that I had read about. Some, he told me, were good ideas and others were not (and he explained why). He also shared his informed opinions on various add-ons and software. In the end, as others have already said, the sim did indeed run more smoothly, and it looked better.Some recurring questions, and my attempts to answer:Q: Does the service help with any other games besides MSFS?A: My experience here is limited since, if it doesn't fly, I don't play it, but I can run IL-2 in any of its various incarnations without any problems. The service is most definitely focused on MSFS.Q: Can you recreate the improvements in the event of a computer crash?A: Michael gave me time to make notes for my own use, but even so... if I ever suffer a meltdown, I'll need (and want) help to get it back to its present state.Q: Do the system improvements preclude the use of add-on apps?A: I run MSFS with Active Sky, FSNav, FS Sky World, FSGenesis Terrain Mesh, Ruud Faber's FScene, OceanFX, and GeoRender sceneries. I also fly several complex add-on airplanes by Dreamfleet (including their new 727), RealAir (including the Spit), MAAM, and Project Sierra Hotel's T-37. I haven't had a problem with any of them, and I've never had a system crash.Michael, if you're reading this and I've misrepresented anything, please feel free to correct me.Best Regards,KenP.S. If you really want to get a good fight going, how about these topics:1. Who has the best pilots... Air Force or Navy? I say Air Force.2. Who has the best football team... USC, Auburn, or Oklahoma? I say Oklaho... Oh wait, my beloved Sooners were stomped on, chewed up, spit out, and left for roadkill by the Trojans a couple of weeks ago, and now everyone says that Auburn should have been in the championship game instead of Oklahoma, so this question doesn't count.3. Who makes the best Boeing sim? Nah... even I'm smart enough to stay out of that argument. :)

[Guest SoarPics]

Thanks Ryan and Ken. Your points are very helpful.Cheers,Greg