How to buy?

[jeffrey11190]

i will still want FsP. FsP is my life right now i am on the site 24/7

[bdparris]

Hi Dan. I have an opinion on pricing if you don't mind. There are several things that most people look at before they buy a product.

The first and obvious thing is the price. Most aircraft and scenery packages are around $30US right now. These generally include the
aircraft/scenery area and a few extras.

The second thing is quality. Most addons include the aircraft/scenery or a program such as a flight planner or logger. In the aircraft and
scenery category, quality is usually a bigger factor than price. People want a newer and better flight model, gmax parts, etc... than
something that doesn't have a good virtual cockpit and such. People don't seem to mind to pay a little extra for more details on the
program that they bought.

The third thing is stability and bugs. I have spent several hundreds of dollars on games that were not beta tested enough and released
too soon. Some of these games were updated with patches and fixed by the community, but sadly most were abandoned and things that
were supposed to be fixed, were fixed when the next title came out. (You had to pay another $60 for the next tiltle, ie... xxxx 2)

The fourth thing is ease of use and documents. Alot of people have no idea how to program and change little things like cfg's and air files
or backup anything and some of the programs don't include any documentation or help files on how to do this and some people shy
away from a product that they can't easily learn.

The fifth thing is the way it is purchased. Most people have no problem getting a credit card and ordering online although there are a few
who don't have access to a card or don't want to purchase from a specific site and will wait till it hits the stores.

There are also several other things that people look at before they buy a product or addon also. Whether or not there is some sort of
support for the product (forum or email addresss). What the program actually does (if the quality is worth the price, etc...). If it is going to
be programmed to be updatable with future versions of flight simulator, will it be updated with minor changes for free (major changes to
the versions for a small fee), etc...
People also think of alot of other reasons not listed here, but these are some of the most.

So....
By looking at your website, forums, replies from users and betatesters, and your willingness to listen to people who post on this forum
and make changes in the program, you have a quality product that will be well worth the wait. You have a program that drastically
changes the way you use flight simulator to make for a more realistic flight. You listen to your beta testers and others from the forum and
make changes to make it easier to use and more realistic. You have more little addons within the product (such as the export feature, the
ability to use a virtual airline, etc...) and so forth. You have alot of information on how to use and customize it so that anyone will a little bit
of experience can customize it to fit their needs. And more.

Dan, FsP surpasses most of the flight sim addons out there currently on the market!!! Of course you cannot and will not please everyone
that wants to buy or use it, but for the user that buys and uses the program for what you intended it to be, they will be extremely pleased
with it and will have no trouble with it at all. Have you taken a look around the bigger websites that tailor to the FS community? If you look
at other sites (I won't name any here) and look at their titles and price and what they offer, you will see that you have a solid addon that
meets or exceeds what they have to offer. Sure you are still going to have some people that do not buy anything and will wait for
something like it to hit the freeware sites, sure you are going to have people complain about what they want it to do, and you will also
have people complain about the price (even if it was $5).

FsP is on the cutting edge so to speak of the Fs community. There have been several previous titles that attempted to do the same thing
or some of the things that FsP does now, but most have been lost to no updates, no support, bad quality, etc... Have you thought about
any reviews of FsP to the major sites? II found originally found the link to this site from a major freeware review. It could help to boost
sales and make sure that the word gets out a little more.

I guess what I really am trying to say is that if all the testing is done to ensure a mostly bug free addon, all the things that you currently
have said and done is in FsP and works as you expect, and your continued support and willingness to listen to those who buy your
product continues, YOU have one of the greatest addons currently for Fs9. And it will be worth the price that you set. Remeber that even
though the program may be worth $50 or $60US, you are still going to have people complain about the price. Some of those people will
not buy a complete aircraft with all the systems, addons and bells and whistles, but will buy a simpler version that is made as well but
still functions the same.

To the flight simmer that has been seaching for a way to run his own company easily, keep track of his performance, be able to created
all sorts of different fleets and keep track of their usage, etc... FsP is THE addon for him. There are people out there who are not going to
use all the feaures, and there are some that are going to buy it for just a few features. But FsP can be customized for about 90% of all the
ways that you intended and the fs community will want to use it.

In short, FsP is going to open the door for the way that fs users fly and keep track of their activities. And it is going to be interesting to see
where the hobby of flight simming takes off from here. You are not going to be able to please everybody, but in all (from reading the
various post), FsP will meet and exceed their expectations. I'd also like to thank you for making and taking the time to make FsP for us.
There are alot of us out there that wished for something like this but lack the skills or time to do it. After all, you don't have over 49000
visitors to this site to look for nothing. There is genuine interest in something like this and whatever price you set, you have what looks to
be one of the greatest addons that will change the way people fly in Fs history. I for one have been waiting for something like this for a
long time.

I also hope that I haven't offended anyone on this or any other site. I have bought alot of payware for MSFS and have been generally happy
with most of them. Also not everyone may not agree with me, and it is not my intention to single out anyone who has posted or voiced
their opinions here. I just thought that some of these things should be thought about before it's release.

[DanSteph]

bdparris wrote:
Hi Dan. I have an opinion on pricing if you don't mind.

Thanks for your long and intteresting post...

I would say that my worse problem is that I tend to make things too perfect
and often my past project sank because of that (too fat), I tend also to listen to everyone's
wish and to try to please everyone and that was another problem I had to deal with...

What helped me is the freeware that I've released in the past, I'm admin of a website ( http://orbiter.dansteph.com )
since 4 years and I'm now used to release add-on and deal with people that need supports.

What will be new anyway is the fact that because it's payware somes people may
be rough and just come here to say it suck, but I'm now 40 and I can deal with that
also... (I never had even one complaint of this sort for my freeware, first because
they are good (one won a "best add-on award") and second because it was freeware.

I really hope FsP will please most of you, sometime when I play really without
thinking about the work and bug I find that I'm pleased by it and that it have a lot to offer...

Dan

[jboweruk]

That was a well considered and well put post bdparris, this is indeed an add-on that a lot of us have been dreaming about for a long long
time. And from what I've read it exceeds what most of us could've expected.

And for Dan, it's the fact you listen, and try to incorporate ideas that does win people over to you. I know of at least one person coming
here from the VA I used to fly for just because I posted a link through my own excitement. I can't remember now who told me about this,
but thanks whoever it was. My point is word of mouth seems to be doing as much as anything, and that's before release. I do agree with
bdparris about reviews though, the more coverage you get the better FSP will sell inevitably.

Anyway Best Wishes Dan, and hope it works out.

PS no I'm not going anywhere, at least I hope not