Hi Fred,personally, I'd say that hyperventilating posts like yours are more responsible for reducing fun in our hobby than any low-cost payware can do.You can rest assured that there are FS users, and probably quite a few, who will get enjoyment out of Joe's package and that is all that counts, isn't it? After all, the default airports he worked on are pretty much barren. Also, I'm sure he spent quite a bit of time on placing these objects and that's what he would like to be compensated for. Last but not least, do a search for Joe Watson in the AVSIM library and you'll find 50 entries of freeware contributions of his dating back to 2001. In any case, we're looking forward to *your* freeware airport add-ons with full custom GMax models and high-res textures. Something tells me though, that's not going to happen because you seem to prefer watching this hobby die while having some popcorn and yelling at the screen. Or what was the point of your post?Cheers, Holger

uh oh! I wonder whether I'll get booted out of AVSIM now because I put "enjoyment" and "Joe's package" and "all that counts" in the same sentence :-outta Cheers, Holger :-wedge

>Alot of the quality freeware designers>are staying with FS9 which is opening the door for simplistic>sub par work for FSX. That's quite a leap of logic to jump to that assumption out of the blue. That is not the conclusion I drew.Rather, I think the problem is, FS9 was out and established for a comparatively long time. Whereas FSX has only just now matured. Furthermore, it was easier to port from FS8 to FS9, than it is to port from FS9 to FS10.It's all related to the "moving target" aspect that FSX has been with all the SP's changing the way the sim handles objects, textures, transparency, etc.We didn't have any of that with FS9. Once FS9 was out, it was out, and that was it. Steady target. I don't think it's a matter of people staying with FS9 at all.RhettAMD 3700+ (@2585 mhz), eVGA 7800GT 256 (Guru3D 93.71), ASUS A8N-E, PC Power 510 SLI, 2gb Corsair XMS 3-3-3-8 (1T), WD 150 gig 10000rpm Raptor, WD 250gig 7200rpm SATA2, Seagate 120gb 5400 rpm external HD, CoolerMaster Praetorian

Mods - (Please) - DO NOT BOOT HOLGER!!!(He might be ugly, but we still love him :-badteeth ):-xxrotflmao

I sure hope not. That is about all that could happen that would make me agree with the originator of this thread. When contributors like yourself get booted, we really are going downhill.Respectfully:RTH

I Agree with your statement Holger. Very well said!Rob

Perhaps something to consider, and I'm no expert on the subject so please correct me if I'm wrong....and this applies to U.S. tax laws only as far as I know.....Isn't it true that the expenditures for PC upgrades etc that are related to a small side-business (and hobbies fit in here too, I think, with some kind of constraints?) are tax-deductible?So, (and any IRS employees, please hit the "BACK" button on your browser now).....wouldn't it be true that someone who enjoys FS as a hobby and doing things like scenery creation, etc, could theoretically create a small web-based business and offer a product for sale, proving the case and existence of the business, and then be able to claim all related hardware and software as deductions?In the meantime, most of the creations are made and kept in the freeware spirit, while one item may be offered for sale at a reasonable price ($11.11 ain't much now, c'mon). And in the meantime, the water-cooled quad processor unit with all the trimmings and big fast GPU, 3 huge monitors and Matrox Triplehead 2 Go, CH Products stick, throttle, rudder pedals, RumbleSeat (or whatever it's called) and anything else you care to throw in there, are refundable deductions in the coming months? Sweet!Not saying that's the case here. But as an example, I enjoy doing repaints, am fairly OK at it - certainly not the best but I did one by request for an individual running a helicopter flight service. If I could have sold that to him for $11.11 and also offered it on the web so my neighbor could buy it (after I mowed his lawn of course) then I could aso say that the other freeware stand-alone and with-release repaints I made this year were "promo" material to help get my business off the ground. Because, darn it, it's loosing money and I need to do something!Not that - you know - I'm condoning this kind of action at all....

Not to mention the room where it's kept ... say about 5% of a house note, all utilities, etc.It's called a "home based business."

Thanks, fsxmissionguy....I know I probably sound pretty dumb about it (and feel that way for sure). It hit me last year when doing the taxes (the wife usually does 'em and she took a break form it last time). Well.....I guess that settles it.....repaints of yur favorite plane, right here, two bucks apiece, step right up! :)

So let me get this straight - someone tries to market a poor quality product, which subsequently gets called out for not being worth the money here on a flight sim consumer forum. This is a bad thing how again exactly? This doesn't mean "flightsim is headed downhill" it means someone tried to market a poor product and got called out for it...Nothing says that all products for FS will be good or else the sim is "going downhill" sheeesh...

I agree fully - nothing is going downhill here at all.EXCEPT OUR PRICES, THAT IS! We're OVERSTOCKED on repaints and our owners say we gotta move 'em out for the '08 models! So c'mon down to Stoopy's House O'Kustom Kolors so you can BUY NOW AND SAVE! OH-6A Cayuse's for as low as $1.99 each! Aerospatiale AS-350's for as low as $1.11! And Bf-109's for only 50 cents...you heard us right!We've got free hot dogs for the kids so bring the whole family! And if you can find you a better deal on a new or used Super Decathlon external texture set, I'll...I'll eat a bug! :)(J/K and No offense meant to my newfound-fellow quality payware vendors out there either....)

>>vgbaron said...>Amen to that. I was under the impression that we all had free>will to tell a developer "no thanks" by not purchasing their>product.>>Personally, when I read a post like the OP - I tend to think>the poster has a hidden agenda. Maybe that's just me.Which part of vote with your wallets did you not get? As for hidden agendas? I have none, I just don't like the way this hobby is going, nothing further.:-(

>In the meantime, most of the creations are made and kept in>the freeware spirit, while one item may be offered for sale at>a reasonable price ($11.11 ain't much now, c'mon). >$11.11 Would be a reasonable price for all 4 volumes but not per volume. That's $44.44 for volumes 1-4. Fair price?

$44.44 fair? Sure, why not, since it's all subjective anyway, yeah? I think the busy always-on-the-go starbucks-drinking executive who loves to flight sim for an hour on evenings when not making deals and settling mergers, and doesn't have the time to download and learn a scenery tool, would go for it right quick. Specially if he lives in that neck of he woods. What part of the old maxim "a good deal is just a state of mind" is so difficult to understand?

>Tabs said...>So let me get this straight - someone tries to market a poor>quality product, which subsequently gets called out for not>being worth the money here on a flight sim consumer forum. >>This is a bad thing how again exactly? This doesn't mean>"flightsim is headed downhill" it means someone tried to>market a poor product and got called out for it...>>Nothing says that all products for FS will be good or else the>sim is "going downhill" sheeesh...Where are all the freeware offerings is what I'm saying. There seems to not be much for those of us that don't have deep pockets in FSX. Last I checked it was okay to voice your opinion about what you thought of a product here at Avsim. It's a crap product that someone is charging for so I called it out as you said. I did it to get the word out to the new people to this hobby (and there are alot) that this type of work is not the standard and there are better places to spend your hard earned coin. Right or wrong, like it or not it's my honest opinion.:-beerchug