DM:That is as large a photo as I want to post - it is a year old, but it works. Thanks for the compliment though (geesh..you male pilots are all alike...even the sim pilots).Crid:Must be your monitor. My dad was shorter and wider and much less tempermental than HH.

Sorry Kathy, I guess I'm just going to have to upgrade, it's getting embarassing.....:-roll

Speaking as one of those male pilots, if more pilots looked like that I'd bet there'd be a whole bunch more guys flying. ;-)Maybe I need to start modeling a gal in the cockpit of my aircraft... :-)Mike Stone

>Just because a guy is freeware one day then goes commercial >the next doesnt mean he changes as a person. >>You cant slate him publically because he is commercial and >expect his feelings, pride sensitivity etc to be any >different to when he was freeware. Peter, when the freeware developer takes that step into being compensated financially for his work, he opens him/her-self up to more criticsm, and rightly so. Sure the developer is still putting the same amount of time and effort into it, but the end users now have a financial stake in that they have laid out hard earned money to purchase his/her product. I don't think it is unfair to hold the payware developers to a MUCH higher standard than the payware guys because they are no longer "donating" their work to the community, but selling it. With the rewards of having you own commercial enterprise come the pitfalls as well. >Also remember that "commercial" is a big word which conjures >up the big bad company living on the backs of poor Joe >Public. Again, perceptions, right or wrong, are everything. Som payware developers and groups actuall seem to strive for a big, "corporate" approach, and have been slammed publicy, in this and other forums, by consumers for perceived poor customer service.>Most of the small commercial outlets are hardly any better >off than freeware generating no more than pocket money to >cover some of their expenses. Again, if you want to play the game, you take your chances. A developer may end up being the next big thing, or may end up fading away, and going back to freeware. That's free enterprise, I guess.>Change the word criticism for Feedback. FEEDBACK is vital to >freeware developers whether by E mail or in forums and is >equally as Vital to the health of forums as well as to the >freeware developers because it involves everyone. I think this paragraph is probably the most intelligent thing I have read on this subject to date. Feedback is what the authors (pay- and freeware) need to improve their products, and not a thrashing in a public forum from people who don't have any solutions only complaints. MikeKOCF

MikeWhen this blew up over Mike Stones work it did so not because of anything to do with Mike Stones Work but because of two very Polite almost apologetic posts where two forum members tried to give polite positive "feedback" concerning the aircraft.Both posts contained valid points which Mike should have and did take on board.What followed were comments that forum members had no rights to make comments concerning freeware.If they didnt like it bin the thing.There is an obsessive protectionism towards freeware which rather than being constructive is destructive because it shakes the very foundations of what our hobby is all about and whatkeeps these forums alive.If members want the forums to turn into dull meaningless places with no freedom of speech no sharing of ideas then take the attitude of "if you dont like it bin it but dont dare say anything which in anyway doesnt heap praise onto the freeware authors.I could never be a part of that attitude even if it doesnt make me popular or even if my posts aggravate some.Peter

> It's unfair to freeware designers to >compare their work to payware products...Yeah, we always figured that it wasn't fair to the payware guys to compare TOO closely! :-lol After all THEY are doing this for living!

Kathy! Good to see you back. :)

Mike,As long as you are doing it for yourself and then allowing people like me to get it and enjoy it too - THAT's a real simmer and enthusiast.I appreciate what you do, and really understand you do it for yourself. I can be sure that it's up to your standard, and that's good enough for me. ;-)Everything I do is for me, too. Then I put it out there for others to enjoy or not. I don't care either way. I do it for me.Keep up the great work and forget the nay-sayers. Your contributions are much appreciated. I like your GA aircraft. Can you make a good Saratoga? I'll supply the panel. :-lol

And one brand new addition to this:Fouga Magister by Kari Virtanen, Mikko Maliniemi, Brahim Rhoul (panel) and Mike Hambly (sounds). Absolutely marvellous!Bamce

I am surprised that the freeware work of Jan Visser has not come up in this thread. Jan's work on the R4D and the Martin Air Charter Dakota DC-3 is without a doubt some of the best work I've ever seen. I may be a little biased because Jan is a personal friend of mine but nevertheless I have had the pleasure of seeing at first hand The work that Jan is currently doing on the virtual cockpit for the R4D that will soon be released. I can also vouch for the incredible amount of time and detail that Jan is putting into this project. No doubt you have seen the screenshots he recently posted on the Screenshot forum showing the work so far. Believe me those pictures do not do it justice. Jan is a total perfectionist and does it all for the love of the hobby and not for profit. Jan is a propliner enthusiast and he is talking about taking on the Super Constellation as his next project which given the detail he puts into his work may well not make its maiden flight untill FS2004 is released!Tim

>I am surprised that the freeware work of Jan Visser has not >come up in this thread. Jan's work on the R4D and the Martin >Air Charter Dakota DC-3 is without a doubt some of the best >work I've ever seen. I'd agree also! Just been waiting for the FS2002 version with the up-coming VC's, etc. L.Adamson

>there aren't many pretty pilots in flightsim. There's a nice looking gal piloting the FSD Super Cub. There's also a real cutie in the passenger seat of Roger "Airbuddha" Dial's 421 Golden Eagle.http://www.netwings.org/dcforum/DCForumID3/164.html

>I've never attempted to make them "perfect". Never had any desire to.Well, you made your TriStar 100% perfect! :-lolYour TriStar is payware quality in terms of visual model!

Ms Chika, the Cub's aviatrix, is purely a creation of the designer's imagination.However, the C421's Woman in Red is based on Roger's real life daughter-in-law so I'd be careful what you said about her ;)

Doh! Nobody told me that! Reminds me of the time I mentioned to the guy next to me at the bar that I "was interested in" the redhead walking in the door. Turned out to be his wife. :-grr