I agree with the fact that it's not fair to make an addon which is demanded by 90% of all addon stuff suddenly payware in such a way that none of those addons works until you pay for it

Testing by me gives the following conclusion: it lives happily together with FSUIPC on the same install, no conflicts seen yet

-on the soapbox- 

Hummmmmm........ let's be a little more precise when discussing Peter Dowson's original release of FSUIPC....pre fs2004 ..... before we criticize him too much for now wanting some bucks for his work.

If you look at earlier pre-fs2004 documents from that nice little program...... it WAS released for use without prior payment..... but it was ALSO mentioned he would not refuse voluntary "donations" for his efforts  .  To me that was a way of him being very nice to the flight sim community about the release of this awesome utility.... and believing that the community, when it saw what his programming efforts would actually allow, would turn around and reward his skills and hard work with something more than a cursory "thanks".

As I understand it...... he got almost no donations.  But if you read the various flight sim boards......... it seemed that just about EVERYONE was using it and simply raving about it.  (And rightly so.)  I don't know about you........ but that response would leave a bad taste in my mouth.

So the flight sim community grabbed and gobbled up his program...... built a TON of uses for it....... and never really acknowledged it to him in a tangible way.  It sort of became a "given" in life...... death, taxes, and FSUIPC.  That, to me, seems like the FS community in general kinda' took advantage of his generosity in releasing it as a "donations accepted" piece of software in the first place.

Maybe it was a naieve and stupid "marketing move" on his part...... maybe it should have been shareware right from the start.  Possibly he confused the "donations accepted" approach with the "shareware" approach.... thinking that they would be similar in their final effect.  He just was generous enough to not put some crippled features into it or put an expiration on it.

Why he might expect that people would voluntarily donate money is a bit beyond me.  After all, we are in a world where the ripping off of music downloads, copying and "cracking" software, and the like seem to be accepted as "normal" and almost considerd an "inalienable right".

He's not now asking hundreds of dollars for it!  It is a limited interest piece of software.... a small market when looked at in the "bigger picture" of offerings like Flight Sim itself.  Of COURSE it is going to be a bit expensive when compared to the sim itself.  $25 is not really that much money these days, at least in the USA.  (Burger flippers here in NH get about $9 an hour. Car mechanics get $50 an hour.  Lawyers get $200 an hour.  And we don't want to even talk about the highest paid profession in the world...... plumbers  .) 

I knew that once FSUIPC went payware that someone would do another version of something like it for free.  That's just the nature of this kind of thing.

But that fact does not make up for the fact that for YEARS a lot of flight sim users and other software developers DEPENDED on his base efforts to make many add ons work at all.  And now that he is asking for a little more in the way of real compensation....... he is getting kinda' "turned on" because of that.

It would be a pretty sad state of affairs if, now that there might be a new free "version" of FSUIPC, the FS community totally turned their backs on Pete Dowson's prior efforts and ignored the contribution that he has made to the field simply because he is trying to make a day's pay. 

If this happens...... shame on us.


If he is guilty of anything.... it is of being naieve... not greedy.

best,

...............john


PS:  If you are destitute and eating out of McDonald's dumpsters..... or a kid living on a small allowance....... hey...... I am all for freeware.  But if you're not truly hurtin' and it is that you simply do not want to pay if you can get it for free..... that's a tad different.

-off the soapbox-

John, I agree with part of what you said.

IMO, Pete should atleast allow freeware designers to use FSUIPC, and charge the payware designers

Michael, Thanks for the input, but I believe the one big question is will this dll allow current programs like FSsound carpet or any other FSUIPC dependent program to work?

Michael,

Hi.  Welcome to SimV.

I just wanted to make very clear here that I have absolutely no issue with your development of an alternative to FSUIPC.  Way to go!  Wish I had the programming skills anymore (mine mainly go back to COBOL, Fortan, and BASIC    ).  As I said in the post above..... and in posts from months ago..... I expected that when Pete Dowson went the "payware" route that someone would soon do that.

No reason someone shouldn't do that if they want to.  And you did..... and it sounds like are the first.  Congratulations.  Your efforts... like his before you.... should be lauded as significant contributions to the flight simulation field.  Doing this kind of intensive, nit-picking, skilled work totally for free is a pretty special thing.

What I do feel kinda' bad about is the way that he has often been "reviled" for deciding to charge for his new efforts.  The reaction seems to run from mild "distaste" to outright "hatred".  It is very sad to see.... and I sincerely hope that in the future if and when you decide to make some sort of changes in what you are doing....... like maybe finally quit doing it at all, if nothing else.... that you don't recieve the same kind of "barbs".

I just followed the link on your post to your website.  Nice setup.  I noticed that you have a Paypal "Donations" button on your website.  So in a sense you are in the same place he was for a long time with regard to that whole idea  .  It will be interesting to see how many donations you ever get to kinda' compare your experience to his.

Your "glass cockpit" stuff looks very nice too.  I am working on setting up a simulated cockpit right now.  (See the thread "Homebrew Cockpits" in the General Forum section here........ I just posted a bunch of new construction pictures there today.)

best,

.....................john

hi, I agree that  pete did a fantastic job the past few years, and still does, but I've just spend around 500€ in new hardware to have fs2k4 running smooth!I don't have the luxury of having to pay another 20€ or so for every program and addon that there is!now is fsuipc, after that will be some nice plane and panel, and so on!I think the idea of a flight comunity is to help each other!If pete and other people (I'm talking mostly about pete because his program made us dependant !) want to be paid, why don't they try to reach an agreement with mmicrosoft, so that fsuipc would be a default fs application? I'll probably have to buy it because I love carrier opperations, and the version of arrcab that I have was still freeware, but it doesn't work in fs2k4, at least I can't make it work with fsdconnection! I still have fs2k2 installed in my computer simply to have carrier ops!For now, thats the way it will be!
P.S. Is just me, or the water effects in fs2k2 were far superior  to the ones in fs2k4?

Quote:


Because Microsoft would try to pay Pete next to nothing.... take it or leave it.   

I am sure that Microsoft itself could develop this capability in the software if they wanted to.  No one knows the code better  .

This really is very simple when you cut to the chase...... if you want FSUIPC for the new stuff... you pay for it.  If you want FSDConnect.... you download it and it is free.  If something does not work with one or the other...... you decide how much you want it....and then you get the other one.  Or you don;t use the thing that doesn't work.

best,

...................john