Digging themselves into the grave

From Matteo in the orbx discord

I've listened to everyone's feedback and took some time to think about it. Please understand that I come from a position of having had my work stolen for many years which is a cause of extreme frustration for me, just like I understand you were frustrated today. I've been offered a potential solution to a problem that has been affecting me for a long time, and I believed in it. That being said, I don't want my battle against piracy to negatively affect the legitimate customers who support my work. I've also read your concerns about security, and that's a valid point. Give me a few hours to talk to Orbx about the situation (it wouldn't be fair of me to decide without involving them at all), and we'll make an announcement before release.

2 minutes ago, neucoas said:

From Matteo in the orbx discord

Damage is already done.

29 minutes ago, Zangoose said:

https://www.aerosoft.com/en/shop/flight/microsoft-flight-simulator/msfs-2020/msfs-aircraft/4763/aerosoft-aircraft-a340-600-pro

Scroll to the bottom and it will say:

If you then go to the privacy policy: https://www.aerosoft.com/en/privacy-policy it will have mentions of Land3Simulations.

Not saying it's the exact same version that this scenery is going to use but it's made by the same person / company. L3S = land3simulations and they are behind vRAAS (https://contrail.shop/collections/land3-simulations) as the screenshot provided by someone else in this thread of Clamb (Axel) speaking in Discord is the developer in the Land3Simulations discord for vRAAS.

Update: It does appear they are using a different version for A340/vRAAS.

13 minutes ago, Zangoose said:

Update: It does appear they are using a different version for A340/vRAAS.

I flat out asked Aerosoft and they have confirmed it is not the same, and there is no kernel level DRM used in the A340-600

This is actually quite entertaining to follow. What’s next - top security clearance and background checks before I’m allowed to make a purchase?

They have well and truly lost the plot (and presumably a substantial chunk of potential sales…).

4 hours ago, Lucky38i said:

Piracy is not a lost sale because pirates have no intention of purchasing the product in the first place.

Ultimately all this does is add hurdles to paying customers. It's not going to increase sales because pirates aren't going to suddenly buy the product.

In the end this'll get cracked and you'll have pirates with a better experience than paying customers just like we've seen countless times with Denuvo and many other DRM implementations.

Yours is a bad take for a number of reasons.

Do you have keys to your car? Why?

Do you use easy passwords for all your important online accounts? Why?

A. Some people steal whenever they can

B. Some people steal just to “get one over on The Man”

C. Some people steal for the gray market.

D. Some people do it to spread malware so they can ransom computers

It’s the 2nd and 3rd group that are commercially dangerous and necessitate DRM

1. Because they like to brag about it.

2. Because they will upload the cracked copy (or “how to” instructions) to warez sites for all to grab.

3. They will re-sell cracked copies for ultra low prices and keep all the cash for themselves.

So this isn’t a “victimless” crime of one “zero cost” digital copy, it’s a source of potentially large scale lost sales.

Would pirates never buy, so it’s no real cost to the devs? Sure there are some of those. But there are a much larger group of people who will gladly take for free or Pennie’s on the dollar what they would otherwise be willing to pay.

So stop being selfish and complaining about your personal convenience when it’s the thieves who are the root cause of the issue.

24 minutes ago, carlanthony24 said:

Damage is already done.

Not quite. This is one man band, and he was acting in his best interest to protect his work. Upon further reflection regarding the security issues, he is now reviewing said decision. If he removes it, then I say good on him and I will buy it day 1.

9 minutes ago, Speedbird193 said:

This is actually quite entertaining to follow. What’s next - top security clearance and background checks before I’m allowed to make a purchase?

They have well and truly lost the plot (and presumably a substantial chunk of potential sales…).

Security clearance! 🤣🤣🤣🤣

AND sign your real name!

10 minutes ago, UrgentSiesta said:

Yours is a bad take for a number of reasons.

Do you have keys to your car? Why?

Do you use easy passwords for all your important online accounts? Why?

A. Some people steal whenever they can

B. Some people steal just to “get one over on The Man”

C. Some people steal for the gray market.

D. Some people do it to spread malware so they can ransom computers

It’s the 2nd and 3rd group that are commercially dangerous and necessitate DRM

1. Because they like to brag about it.

2. Because they will upload the cracked copy (or “how to” instructions) to warez sites for all to grab.

3. They will re-sell cracked copies for ultra low prices and keep all the cash for themselves.

So this isn’t a “victimless” crime of one “zero cost” digital copy, it’s a source of potentially large scale lost sales.

Would pirates never buy, so it’s no real cost to the devs? Sure there are some of those. But there are a much larger group of people who will gladly take for free or Pennie’s on the dollar what they would otherwise be willing to pay.

So stop being selfish and complaining about your personal convenience when it’s the thieves who are the root cause of the issue.

But isn’t the Marketplace safer for devs?

And just like that Orbx have now confirmed in discord they will not be moving forward with this DRM.
The community has spoken loudly and forced change.

7 minutes ago, B777ER said:

Not quite. This is one man band, and he was acting in his best interest to protect his work. Upon further reflection regarding the security issues, he is now reviewing said decision. If he removes it, then I say good on him and I will buy it day 1.

Same here.

1 minute ago, atco said:

And just like that Orbx have now confirmed in discord they will not be moving forward with this DRM.
The community has spoken loudly and forced change.

If true then day 1 purchase.

Just announced by Orbx, DRM is not going to be used. It will not be with the scenery at all.

I certainly understand the need to protect a developer from piracy and it is definitely a problem. I don't mind a kernal or whatever opening in the back ground to confirm my purchase as long is that is all its doing. What I do find incredibly stupid is the need to launch this program everytime I wish to use the product. This is not what I should be getting for the price of admission.

I have a few planes that do have something running in the background but it does not require me to do anything when I use it.

I get the piracy concerns but they need to find a better way. At this time it won't be purchasing the ATL coming out.