Ben Russell

One does not learn C++ to write a web browser to check your GMail. If you'd rather dig trenches by hand with a hoe than cruise down the highway in a Mercedes, I'll see you at the bar. Can't say I'll save a drink for you though.

Thanks Kaphias. We are trying to bring you both the best possible price and be directly honest with you, sorry if it causes friction. I've been looking at some MSFS products to see where we sit with regards to pricing and data. When doing this please keep in mind that the MSFS market is by all accounts much larger than the X-Plane market. The margins are different when you have bigger sales numbers. Bulk buying power. etc. So, looking at nothing more than data per dollar. X-A Reno pack: $25 US, 2.11 GB http://www.x-aviation.com/catalog/product_info.php?products_id=64 MSFS: FS Dreamscapes - NEXTMap® ProMesh™ Mississippi: $30, 0.875 GB FS Dreamscapes - NEXTMap® ProMesh™ Arizona: $35, 2.14 GB FS Dreamscapes - NEXTMap® ProMesh™ California: $40, 3.04 GB FS Dreamscapes - NEXTMap® ProMesh™ Florida: $35, 0.76 GB FS Dreamscapes - NEXTMap® ProMesh™ Hawaii: $15, 0.15 GB (All from here, prices rounded: http://www.flightsimstore.com/index.php?cPath=2_82_84_171&sort=3a&page=2 ) Comparing these packages is hard, and essentially useless, it is a gross simplification of the work and sales-volumes behind each price. I have tried to pick a pack of scenery products that is a reasonable comparison in the brief 5 minutes I threw at this research. Please feel free to counter post with better examples. My point: MSFS has a bigger market, following standard business logic this usually allows for a generally lower cost, free-refils, super-size me rates and all that wonderful artery-clogging goodness. They charge more for each package on average. They have better markets, therefore better margins, _and_ they charge more?... But this is balanced by the fact that it is expected to get a suite of buildings with your MSFS sceneries. I do not know if the samples I point to above have this. I tried to be comparitive. The new trail that's being blazed is similar to the airlines in that, we no longer expect to serve you food you probably wont want, in exchange we can cut the pricing. Those that do want an in-flight meal have to "put up" with talking to the steward and exchanging a small amount of money. I'm sorry that it irritates you. That's certainly not the intention or the majority result.

...If I can just get to the power hangar at the far end of the field...

The solution, as practiced by real business everywhere, is to simply put the price up for all customers. Why you would elect to pay $5 more for every purchase and pretend it's not being charged, I do not understand. I'm sure you don't want it that way either, but that's the realistic outcome.

Let's flip this into the real world. You go to the store, buy a $30 item. You come home, unloading it from the car you trip on your kids toy, fumble, it slips, you drop it, it wasn't really your fault but the device is ruined anyway. You phone the manufacturer. They offer to send you a new device at no cost if you'll cover the $5 shipping fee. You agree, this is a fantastic deal, the manufacturer just gave you a completely brand new replacement for no reason at all other than they're nice. Prove me wrong.

Unlearning is MUCH harder than learning.

I had to ban a user less than 24 hours ago for arguing and lying about this same subject in a different thread. Information on this forum is posted for the benefit of all who should read it. Sorry if you feel the last line was a cheap shot at you, it was not intended that way.

1) These programs that suck data off mapping servers are in a legally dark-gray area. They're actively pursued and shut down, yet not directly outright illegal. 2) The terms of service of every decent image provider I've seen does not allow this re-use. 3) Donations that you have to give, aren't donations. Stop falling for it. It's actually quite insulting. Sticking outright payware under a charity banner is disgusting in this day and age. 4) It went "mandatory donation" *laughs* after it was pursued by Google and became popular. 1 + 2 + 3 + 4 = Talk about it somewhere else please. PS. No if's and buts. This is a friendly cease and desist.

From memory; the Falco models a circuit breaker failure for part of the landing gear system if you give it a negative G kick. Something to do with the nose gear strut actuating the motors and sending an eddy current or something. The real one does the same thing, Tom faithfully reproduced it. And yes, you're right. Modeling "circuit breakers that animate" with no real failure modes behind them would make about as much sense as animating 5 million ash trays or drawers you can't put anything in. Windows go up, windows go down, windows go up..... So... have a hunt around, Tom explained the breakers, a few users have been caught out being aerobatic and not being able to get the gear down without checking them.

User has been banned for lying in direct response to a polite cease and desist. Seriously. &^% off. Feel free to post your arguments against if you have any.

No. I do not want to discuss this again. I'm very well aware of the numerous other topics on this subject. Perhaps you might summarize them instead of pissing me off by arguing and lying. Goodbye.

Prove me wrong and you're free to discuss what you like. Getting all defensive, while providing no facts, links, or supporting evidence for your defence doesn't help you. I would actually like to know where there is a legitimate source of photo scenery imagery that you can re-use in this manner. To the best of my knowledge there isn't one. I have used Google to search for "gmaps x-plane". I get this: http://members.ferrara.linux.it/cavicchi/GMaps/ It says: This software create a scenary compatible with X-Plane 9.2x (or later) using orthophotos of Google Maps. *sigh*

Please do not pursue this subject here. Google has made it quite clear what the acceptable terms of use are. This is not one of them. http://www.google.com/intl/en_ALL/help/terms_maps.html If you can find a legitimate image source that fully allows this use of their images and does not actively pursue and attempt to shut such things down, fine, we can talk. Until then, no thank you.

http://wimp.com/myblackberry/

Left: Slow. Right: Fast. It doesn't attempt to put a number on how slow or fast. It's just a loud pedal. I put it in because my personal internet connection is ADSL1, 1500/256. About as slow and about as unreliable as it gets. I cannot get a faster connection, I live in a rural area. If it rains there's a 50:50 chance the line will drop out. Yay. If I'm leaching a big file in any other app my connection bombs. iTunes, all web browsers, etc. The whole pipe gets saturated, web browsing becomes unusable, Skype fails, internet radio buffers fail, etc etc etc. Yay. For. Telstra. (Seriously, I've never had a connection that saturates so easily, its pathetic.) So I put a throttle in. When I want to do stuff and have my network usable, while still leaching, I yank it left. (I think.) When I want it to go fast and leach overnight I push it right.... It shouldn't take more than a few seconds to start reflecting the new speeds unless your actual internet connection is saturated and you're asking for more speed in which case it cannot provide any faster. I believe, by default, I set it to consume about 75-80% of my possible transfer rate. It should download at a decent rate without bombing your connection without you touching anything. Obviously if you have a fiber connection your definition of a decent rate is going to be a long way from mine. 60kb/second is almost a full half of my maximum speed. Throttle response is non linear. Mid slider will not use half your transfer rate. It's a convenience feature, spending lots of engineering time on it would defeat the convenience I added it for.

How do increased restrictions on multiple downloads make it easier to provide the best product at the best price? The way I see it, increased restrictions just make everything more difficult for users. Very very simple. We charge all users more money for a feature they will probably never use. Or, we can have 1% of users send us an email. Are you sure you want us to charge everyone more money for the same thing?

Google images search reveals no evidence that the gauge can indicate when you are turning too quickly. What a stupid design.

+1 Dozer. An instrument that cant show you when you're over and by how much you're over, is useless and will do nothing but induce PIO.

Hi, Sorry that you're having problems. The download servers are using Amazons network. They have data centers in Singapore, Ireland and various locations around the US, I believe. I'm sorry that you were having slow speeds but there's not much more we can do and no way we can ever hope to buy faster servers. The new download system is more restrictive about allowing multiple downloads because we are trying to bring you best product at the best price. Cameron can fix this by allowing you more downloads on a case by case basis as needed. It won't take him long once he reads your email and hopefully you will be able to download at full speed! Apologies for the hassles, thank you for your patience and patronage. We appreciate the support.

The detail in this new technology is simply stunning. http://www.gizmodo.com.au/2010/12/how-l-a-noire-conquered-the-uncanny-valley-with-aussie-technology-depth-analysis/

tristar: Please do not trivialize a serious issue like Rape ever again. Anywhere. I suspect you spend too much time on XBox Live where little boys think that word is tough.

Forza marketplace is a joke. They've crammed it into the standard LIVE container, so while you're looking for track upgrades, you have to wade through stupid helmets for your Avatar. The content browser is crap. The text descriptions are very often truncated and leaving you wonde..... No, buying stuff on LIVE is no fun at all. No sign of the test-track as yet, but you can get "Stigs Garage" full of cars to drive on a course that has no relevance to the show. Not a fan of all the nickle and diming starting to unfold. I payed $120 for Halo (Dry)Reach. It's mostly useless and now 2 months later they want another $40 for more multiplayer maps. As if that wasn't bad enough; - Turn on my xbox, if it detects network access you get spam in your eye by default. Ads for halo maps, advertised using animations that you _never_ see in the actual game. - Start Halo: OH HAI WE HAVE NEW MAPS - Try and connect to actually, you know, enjoy a game: SPAM YOU NEED MORE MAPS..... It's about as much fun as getting told about GIANT FIGHTING ROBOTS AND HOW THEYRE REALLY FUUUUUNNNNNNNNNNNNN Fuck spam. Fuck advertising. Fuck product placement.

: ;D