Payware insanity!!!

[Mike T 208]

Okay, enough is enough! There was a time when the majority of addons for this hobby were free and done simply for the love of the hobby. With that said, I FULLY understand that times have changed and the demand for hyper-realism has spawned a brisk 3rd party market of scenery and aircraft. Companies such as LDS, PMDG, Captain Sim, Feelthere, Flight1, Imaginesim, Simflyers, FlyTampa and Eaglesoft lead the way with quality offerings built on sweat and attention to detail and I have nothing but praise for companies such as these. They all would probably be a bargin at twice the price.Then there is Friendly Panels (see Avsim front page)! Okay, $21 for a rearranged default panel with a few additions that look worse than the original default panel? Come on, these are not even good freeware, but $21???? I didn't think that it could get worse than Perfect Flight, but I guess now I've certainly seen everything! Heck, I did a panel better than theirs with a panel editor about 5 years ago and won a Flight Sim Award! If I had known that I could have charged $20 I would have RACKED UP since that panel got more than 20,000 downloads. I'd be typing this email from my Ferrari!!It seems that a payware "slum" has sprung up charging for what is essentially "poor freeware" and it is SAD, SAD, SAD, SAD, SAD, to see that this is the decided trend in our community. Garbage for sale...and expesive garbage at that!!! SHAME ON YOU ALL.Unfortunately, there are not enough POSKY, IDFG and Lonny Paynes left in the community while there are LOTS of Perfect Flights and Friendly Panels. Just an unfortunate observation.Regards,Mike T.

[Guest Zevious Zoquis]

I make it a habit to exercise my right not to buy garbage.

[Trans_27 Pilot Chase 59]

========================================================================Heck, I did a panel better than theirs with a panel editor about 5 years ago and won a Flight Sim Award! If I had known that I could have charged $20 I would have RACKED UP since that panel got more than 20,000 downloads. I'd be typing this email from my Ferrari!!========================================================================LMAO.. Payware aircraft, or certain ones atleast, are very nice. PMDG, LDS, F1, for a few.True, their our some outragous prices out there, but people put time into desiging. F1, or their team of designers, all travelled to france to the ATR facillity for studys on the ATR72-500 before desigining.Some are nice.. But other payware developers, a few atleast, should be slapped for charging a dime..But i somewhat understand where your comming from.. :)

[Guest dsflyer]

Is it not suprising then how many people do not, or cannot, distinguish quality payware from the garbage?CheersDan:-roll

[clayton4115 56]

stick with the tried and trusted brands, PMDG and Phoenix :-)

[Guest]

I have PSS A330 but was turned off at their horrible support. They basically ignored me when I asked how I could get VC lighting because everything was dark inside the VC

[Guest pez_man]

Payware slum is a really nice term for it...! But as long as people seem willing to pay for the stuff I guess there'll be a market for it.. I exercise my right not to buy on a more and more frequent basis nowadays! :-)rgrds fredrik

[TonyB 1]

And cue Sonar5's entry stage right. :)Tony

[Trans_27 Pilot Chase 59]

LMAO

[Guest B52Drivr]

Hello Mike,<<<<>>>Hey, Sonny Crocket had a Ferrari . . . you mean they don't supply you 'Jimmy Bond' types with expensive euro boy racer cars? Sorry Mike, I just couldn't resist!How are you expected to catch the 'bad guys' if you can't keep up . . .I mean, that Bimmer of yours will only go soooo fast, right? Time to trade it in on a Ruf Porsche Twin Turbo, hey, just a measly 250 grand . . . Uncle Whiskers can afford that, can't he? .OK, on the subject of payware . . . as usual, you are so correct. It's gotten out of hand, and I would be willing to say that a good 50% of it is just so much garbage. Or, perhaps we have been spoiled over the years by all the great freeware designers and the excellent payware houses. It's really hard to compete with the best, being PMDG, Dreamfleet and LevelD. It seems once you get one of the above's offerings, everything else pales in comparison.Let me know when Ruf is delivering that new Porsche and we'll go wring it out on some of the back roads in VA LOL As usual, love ya brother,Drachttp://www.dreamfleet2000.com/gfx/images/F...ers/Dopke01.jpgClayton T. Dopke (Clay)Major, USAF (retired)"Drac"

[1mikel151 71]

"And cue Sonar5's entry stage right. :)"Ha, Ha, Ha, no kidding :-lol :-lol :-lolRegards, MichaelKDFWhttp://www.calvirair.com/mcpics/mcdcvabanner.jpgCalVirAir International

[Guest United]

Mike, come on, people will pay big $$ for crap, it's been proven time and time again throughout all consumer markets, ours is not exempt. I have no problem whatsoever with payware. It's left to us, the buyers, whether we judge the prospective product to be worthy of purchase. I see no need for any concern about this, it seems as though you believe that FS9 flight simming somehow draws a "get out of jail free" card when it comes to common/ordinary marketing and consumer behavior, we dont. I got burned by Perfect Flight once, never again. I can say that about several companies that do not, not for my money, produce a product I'm willing to pay $0.01 for. Some payware I wouldn't put on my harddrive as freeware, but I will allow them the right to try and sell, cause there are those of us who remain eternally gullible. Barnum and Bailey were not wrong!!Randy Jura, KPDX

[Guest diajohn2]

The wonderful thing about Payware, is you don't have to pay if you don't like it or want it. I used to believe Freeware was the best thing going about FS. Then I got stupid and started out small with the PMDG Express 1900D. I liked it. Then Ultimate Traffic. What a wonderful product to produce realism. Then I thought PMDG did such a good job on the Beech I bought the 737NG. I loved it.Then I had to register FSUIPC. Oh, I forgot the Saitek X45. Then I got the Pro Pedals. Then the ATR, then the DF727, and then the LDS 767, then FE, then and then and then.God, I love this stuff. What a great world for serious FS fans.Next up the PMDG 747 or maybe something else that looks good.I must say there has been NO payware that I have disliked. Wait a few days on any of it and AVSIM will have a lot of opinions. Moral of the story, buy what you will use from someone with a good track record or a reasonable money-back policy like FlightOne has started to do. This community is blessed with caring developers and the best encouragement is buy great products and hope for the next one. There are a number of very good freeware products but realistically, it is difficult to produce some of these products and one man cannot do the same variety of work. Peter Dowson is a virtuo and is the exception rather than the rule now that several of my favorites have gone the payware route. They are finally getting some reward for their contributions from those of us who want high-end quality product.

[Arklight1 140]

I like quality payware and have no issues with paying for something I have an interest in. I think many prople seem to forget that many payware developers also love this hobby. I seriously doubt the developers are getting rich off of this and even if they did, good for them. For many of them they probably consider this a labor of love. Nobody is forced to buy payware and complaining about its presence is just ridiculous. One of the best parts about FS are the options available to the user. If I choose to buy 3 payware aircraft a week then I don't see any issues with that, nor do I see an issue with not buying any payware at all.Don't want it, don't buy it.:)

[AWACS 12]

Thinking about this, I realized that I have never bought any crappy payware, I guess the best advice is to, as mentioned above stick with the already known payware developers when it comes to multiple companies making the same airplane or utility. Then if you see something that looks good from a new company, check out the screenshots, look at the features, and then wait for someone else to give the thumbs up. It's easy.Jeff