Payware Vs Freeware

[Bazza]

Interesting comments and as usual everyone is correct
doing it they way they want to.

I've simmed since pre FS95 and have never purchased a single program.    Why ?  -  mainly because I haven't needed to.   Some of the most enjoyment I've had over recent times was creating two special planes out of other peoples brilliant work - a panel here, the correct recorded sounds, the right paint job for my part of the world and so on.   It took a fair bit of surfing to find all the right downloads but that was half the fun.    The other point I consider relevant is that while I enjoy my simming, I do have a life out there, and there's only so much time to fly so many planes.    Following a recent
hard-drive crash, I'm rebuilding but this time I'm being much more selective in what planes I chose, and how many.

Put me down as a Freeware fan.

[SilverFox441]

As a designer...I see both sides, but I feel that many miss an important point. Both payware and freeware have valued places in the FS community.

Payware serves to offer what the community wants or needs. It's market driven, how else can they make money on it?

Freeware is built for the designer. Period. Full stop. End of sentence. Freeware designers build as part of their hobby, the resulting project might be of interest to you...but they did it because they wanted it. They might want to build a plane that no one else may ever want to fly.

To address the point that people shouldn't charge when GMax is free........well, that's nuts. First off, I have a receipt for my copy of FSDS V2, I don't even use GMax. I paid for it. I also paid for the copy of the Corel graphics package that does my painting and blueprint work. Add to that the time and effort that goes into a plane these days....500 to 1000 hours, easy. Unless you are willing to call your boss and happily agree to work the next 1000 hours for no pay...don't begrudge others receiving their due for their work.

I'm not a payware designer...I don't feel I'm good enough and wouldn't feel right about it. Someday something of mine might have a pricetag, but I hope that day isn't soon. You see, if I got paid to build something for someone...I'd probably have to find something else to do as my hobby.

[ozzy72]

Personally I'm a freeware man, but in some cases I think that payware is worth it. TLUKs Lightning, and PSSs Avro Vulcan. But on the whole I'm tighter than a ducks bottom! Mind you 4 of my most flown aircraft are freeware!

Ozzy

[foo_fighter]

Mikel

definitly I ever never spent US$ 100 in one night! Geeez!! that's not me at all!
(but that's ok if somelse can d this, nothing against)
the major point here is that some guys break their bcks working hard in order t GIVE us the very best, at leaast the best they can do! so, I ask, why charge at all? or why bill us THAT prices?? think sometimes th a/c's don't reflect the reality and other country realities - that's another consideration to be made!

[codered]

I have purchased payware because they are worth the money and there are no freeware packages for them.  How many versions of United airlines can one handle.  There has got to be twenty different versions of the same airliner!  There are some great people that have created wonderful freeware (AC520, etc.), and I give them my full support.  Sometimes it is nice to fly something that is unique like the payware aircraft.  Besides, people work very hard on these projects why shouldn't they be compensated with more than a pat on the back....

[fisharno]

I have to agree with Silverfox.

I bought FS Panel Design Studio, simply as an extention of my hobby. I couldn't find panels equipped the way I wanted, so now I can just make my own. But, if it wasn't for the freeware designers, I would have never been inspired to try my own.
Freeware does, indeed, drive the payware market.

Look at the SimMarket.com:

http://simmarket.com/

90% of the software for sale on the front page was at one time freeware. Or at least the concepts were originally freeware.

[Paz]

I love freeware and extend my Thanks to all the designers who share their creations with us, if I had the patience and know-how, I would like to get into creating freeware myself, I can't wait to  check simviation everyday to see what new freeware has been uploaded.
I also purchased Flight1 greatest airliners 737-400,  I use that add-on quite a bit and in my opinion it was very well worth the price.
It's nice to be able to shop for something new to add to FS2002 without spending any cash, especially if you're layed off from work and don't have the funds to invest in pricey add-ons.
My hat goes off to the freeware designers.

[phil509]

Freeware.Im far to anal retentive to cough up for anything I dont absolutely have to.IE; I still use a dial up modem,stock graphics card,and a grindingly slow 900mhz machine with a nearly full 20gig HD-works just fine for now.Besides,I'd have to really think about it to recall a free download,out of countless, that I thought was crap.My concern is;how long before the flightsim world goes the way of Napster?How long will the"free lunch"last?