I think you guys are forgetting something.
when you buy corn, you pay the farmer for the fuel, seeds, water, fertilizer (etc) that he spent his money on, so that you could eat his wonderful corn.

when a modeler spends hundreds of hours surfing the net for info, designing his models, while watching his electric and phone bill rocket, he deserves something in return.

I have never bought a payware model (can't afford it) but it costs so much because of the time and money put into it. getting real sounds means going out and recording them, getting real dynamics means going out and finding the pilots, and getting the accurate shape and paint means finding those high quality 3-views and taking high quality pictures of the real thing.

When you buy FS you buy a platform, a platform for running future aircraft and sceneries. It is by no means a "finished product", that's the beauty of FS, you have an endless amount of posibilities. A product costs 25$ because that's what the modeler needs to cover his costs and makes some extra cash. Back in the days of FS-95 models were simple, so payware was out of the question, but nowadays we want all moving surfaces, full panel, custom gauges, working VC and virtual cabin, compressing spinning tilting and coffee making wheels, we want it all. Getting all that takes time and money.

you don't get your corn for free, don't expect high quality aircraft to be free either.

Boaz (IAFpilot03)

Boaz:  I'm going to disagree again.  The majority of free aircraft are as good as, if not better than, most payware.  Look at Bonzonies B-52H.  Or the Falcon 50, which is just as good as the EagleSoft 400A.

Some people will take only the thanks of others as enough reward for releasing a great freeware aircraft.

Also, look at AVhistory and all the 1% aircraft there.  Everyone of them planes flies as accurately as can be modelled in a sim and they're all free!

As for the sounds, I'm sure anyone who goes to the bother of going to an airfield to record sounds does so because they want to see the plane too.

The DSB Eurofighter is free and it is arguably the best fighter jet for FS2002 right now.  Just because a plane is payware does not make it better than a freeware model.

Jamal:  I see your point too, but I'm a freeware guy and will be sticking to freeware.

I would like to add one thought. I think the amount of free publicity PW groups are getting here is just wrong. They get a lot of benefit from these images being posted everywhere, we're surrounded by what's effectively a commercial, and SimV loses the money they could have charged from these groups. I think it's time to lock out advertisers, if you want to post a preview, post it in a "payware preview" forum.

well..
ok
if it is 5-10 dollars i will get it..
but any more will be over doing it and i will not buy it.
i dont really give a care about the manuals or whatever extra stuff your putting into it
this post should have really been made in the PAYWARE forums

That is a fantastic looking F-15 there...looking very nice already!

Looking through the various replies in this thread have definitely shown the difference in how people view FS Add Ons.

Everyone is entitled to an opinion and this one is mine...

Freeware aircraft exist because very talented and generous designers work for endless hours creating the aircraft that will end up in our virtual hangers. The range in quality of Freeware aircraft varies considerably and some designers research their projects extremely well and make some really good aircraft.

HABU - Your F-15C and E (from Lakenheath) aircraft remain in use in my Flightsim to this day because they are really excellent models - I actually consider them superior to the other one available but that is a different story.

Payware is a completely different subject matter. Designers are entitled to some sort of reward for their efforts and this is fair enough. If I3D are going to make an aircraft with all of the kit that is in the list below then it will sure be an aircraft that I will consider worth purchasing. This product is aimed at a particular niche and obviously will not appeal to everyone.

The problem I have had with Payware is with the difference between 2 products from a "certain" company. The first was a Tornado which appealed to me as I have a lot of knowledge of this particular jet. I was deeply unimpressed with this aircraft, a really poor showing from the company who promised it often to be the most realistic version ever. Unfortunately the HUD was wrong, the Flight Dynamics were incorrect as were the loadouts combined with the lack of versions available. Considering the price of the aircraft, this is one example of payware which did not meet standards.

Then the same company released an F-16. This aircraft, with the full panel, massive range of quality textures and realistic loadouts, was simply brilliant and worth the price.

The fact is that there are freeware groups who release very nice aircraft for FS - DSB with the Typhoon and Tornado aircraft really look on form. Once the final versions of both these aircraft are released, then simply put, they will rival and exceed payware developers.

Finally, I will say this.. (and I pose this question to a few of you on this forum who are trying to "pressure" I3D into releasing this potentially fantastic F-15 as freeware.....) .. if DSB released their Typhoon  (in it's current state of course) as payware - would you still consider it the best FS2002 Fighter Jet? (the same goes for any other freeware fighter - such as the Japanese F-15) ...I doubt it....rather I think that this is simply an attempt at persuading Payware developers to releasing their work as freeware.

Is it just me or did everyone here totally miss out on the fact that we offended a person so bad that he won't come back to Simviation? 

Or does no one else care about that?

Hi there again everybody.......

I didnt realise that posting up the shot would cause that much debate. I think this is a debate that could continue for many more pages, but i think in the end nothing would be gained.
We just wanted to show you all what was going on over at our 'workshops'.
The pic also shows one of the new skins that will be available in the B-1 patch that will be freeware, that wee are working on. This particular B-1 carries the 'Lets Roll' noseart.