Aerosoft just released a new flight planning tool, Flight Operation Center. According to their description it is “….. a highly sophisticated flight planning tool incorporating many professional features normally only seen in real world airline operations. Programmed by a team of dispatchers, pilots and FS enthusiasts, it presents a new world to those who take their PC flying serious and want to fly with documentation of the same accuracy as used by real world airline pilots….”. Available on simMarket now.
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EUR 57.95!!!! and they still want us to pay a subscription for SID-STAR routes, Airways, Waypoints, Navigational Aids, on top of that.
It’s supposed to be a Flight Planner thats what you should get in a Flight Planner!!
Your not getting my money.
I think you’ll find that the subscription is for navdata UPDATES, exactly the same as for every one of the airliners this is designed to be used with, such a PMDG, PSS, LDS, Wilco PIC, etc. All of these get Navdata updates (from Navigraph) after the initial set that you get in the package.
As the Navdata in the real world changes on a monthly basis, so Navigraph release updates. You pay a subscription fee for that navigational data update service. They normally provide a single set with the package that you can use without upgrading for as long as you want, but you may have problems if you try and operate in an environment such as VATSIM, which will expect you to be using current navigational data.
I agree with Mule!! EUR 57.95, wow !!! It is just crazy horrible for such a program. Indeed it is probably a good program, but the price no way!!!!
Thes people need to realize they’re charging more for an addon than the software it’s designed to be added on to!! And then they wonder why piracy is so rampant… go figure
I don’t know how realistic this is, as I’ve not used it, but before anyone else complains about the price, compare it to some real-world planning software prices for GA software (airline flight planners cost thousands of dollars). Right now, Jeppesen VFR planning software is approximately €140, the IFR version is over €350 and those are only for European flight planning.
Do some research and get your facts straight before you rant and if you don’t want it, don’t buy it. FSX has a flightplanner built in if you don’t want a more realistic one.
I’m not going to comment on the price t6he developer and distributor have set – value for money is an individual decision, but this is a standalone package, which allows it to work with software that cost a lot more than MS FSX, including 747 Precision Simulator 1.3 which, while now unavailable from the developer, cost considerably in excess of £100 when it was.
Please actually read the product spec and description before you post.
Additionally, the base price of a product is a tiny fraction of how much it actually costs. Many FS fans upgrade computers at great cost to use just that one piece of software. Physical flight decks cost thousands (regardless of currency) to build. Even a yoke and pedals costs considerably more than the base software package. The argument that “it costs more than the software” is a non argument.
Just a general comment. Yes some software and hardware does cost alot. There is alot to look at and think about out there. Homework needs to be done ahead of time before buying. It does take developers hours, personal money, etc to create products for us. There are alot of GREAT developers out there coming up with unique products that previously were not available. Those of us that have ben around since the days of flying MS FS1, RGB screens, Commodore versions can say it has come along way. Want realism and as real as it gets costs money. As an example in the USA there are people that spend alot of money on fishing equipment. They do not hesitate to buy a reel for $800.00 or $60,000 for a boat, its their hobby. Yes Dollars and Euro conversions are not what they use to be. Software and hardware does cost money. I can buy a simple photo editor or I can buy Photoshop, depends what you want to use and buy. As one developer said at Devcon last November when asked how much time he spent on a particular project, his comment ” You do not think of time, the hours spent ” based on that and seeing what goes into it, I think we fly at a bargain.
Some people ‘get it’, and then again, some never will. Anything you buy has a ‘customer value’, based on how much you need it, want it or how enthusaistic you are for the specific hobby. None of these things are like you NEED it as in food, shelter, medicare……
If it’s too expensive for you for whatever reason (you can’t spend what you don’t have… I would like a few Ferrari’s too) then you don’t buy. If you don’t think something is ‘worth it’ for YOU, then you don’t buy.
Like Paul said, most products cost somebody a LOT of his time. NONE of the FS products are really paying for that time. If you’d try and do it in a real company, you’d be broke, developers would be on social security and there would be no FS add-ons except for the freeware ones, very often made by retired people, or indeed folks on social security 😉
All of that does NOT warrant piracy, which is just a slap in the face of honest workers and a total lack of respect for fellow human beings. I see a lot of complaints about ‘the Chinese’ or ‘the Indians’ taking away ‘our jobs’. Well, the thieves (pirates is too romantic a word for the scum) come first in taking away jobs in the games industry…..
Think about that for a minute……. 😉
Francois
100% agreed, particularly on the pirate scum… there is a special website dedicated solely to pirating FS products and we do know that many of you reading here know about it… truly a constant slap on the face of anyone involved in the FS industry by both the operators of that website and their supporters and users. less then scum in my view…
Well it looks like the real flightplanner I daily use. Looks really cool, but too expensive for me considering the extra subscriptions you also need.
The navdata is quite expensive:
http://www.danur.com/frontpage/prod05.htm
And you can add the weather subscription too:
http://www.danur.com/frontpage/prod01.htm
Wonder who uses this for flightsim and what the experiences are with it?
I would gladly pay $30US for FOC but nothing more. I’ve got so many add on’s now. It does look nice and sounds nice however I guess I’ll stick to FSNav/FScom and my companies Jeppsen subscription if I really want real world flight planning. I do think you would sell more if you priced it where everyone could afford it. just my 2 cents…