It is the eternal dilemma for FS devs and publishers….. how to get their customers news, while not getting flamed for it. I guess Airsimmer is learning that now. Their Airbus has been in the making for ages, but since there is not a real good Airbus on the market, people continue to wait for it. Now Airsimmer posted more pictures of the Work in Progress on their forum… only to get mixed reactions, of which many are grumbling users ‘demanding’ it now! I know a few good devs who would just give up…..
![Aerosoft – Frankfurt EDDF MSFS Preview [Video]](https://www.simflight.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Aerosoft-Frankfurt-EDDF-MSFS-Preview-thumb.jpg)
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Why bring attention to the flamers? isn’t this the very reason why they post such nonsense. You’er just fuelling the flamers fire by posting this post like that.
It’s amazing the stupid comments some people will make when they don’t get their own way.
I understand some of the frustration when I look at how long this product has taken to get to market. Aerosimmer announced this project at the same time Wilco/Feelthere announced theirs. How long has it been now that the Feelthere model has been on the market? Very high expectations are in the air for this product and it may just as well live up to them. The Airbus has proven to be a real challenge over Boeing getting it done right in the confines of Flight Simulator. I hope this product will be the holy grail for the Airbus in FS but just the same I too am tired of the wait. If Leonardo’s Maddog 2008 is any marker, great things come to those who wait but waiting is not a natural human attribute (especially with the screenshots we’ve been seeing over the last year or so). I for one would rather them get things right and take their time but this has been a really long time to wait…
The offset to that, of course, is that the Wilco/FT one is much derided by people who love their systems depth above all else. It actually has very little and occasionally does some very odd things when asked to do something very simple. Even three patches later, some things don’t work, either. But when you consider that Wilco/FT have charged nothing for the updates to go from FS9 to FSX, is it surprising that there are (comparatively minor) errors in the package?
To be honest, I’m in the camp of people who says “show nothing until it’s done”, as LDS do with their projects. Yes, you’ll get people complaining, griping and saying it’s been cancelled (a simple “no it hasn’t, we’re still working on it” from the developers answers that) but in the long run, with the demands for immediate release and statements of entitlement that many people show now over unreleased products, is probably the best way forward. If the product is good enough, a short intense advertising burst just prior to release is more than sufficient. Building hype just builds expectations and in this hobby at the moment, expectations lead to complaints and arguments, not really increased sales.
While flamers need to get a life, it is not helped by developers who build up expectations of an imminent release, such as Airsimmer did about 2 years ago. Developers cannot cry foul if they deliberately build expectations, then pull the “ready when its ready” line and 2 years later it is still work in progress. That is as unacceptable as the flamers who want it now. I think the Level-D approach is best – say nothing until it’s released. Developers seem to want everyone to kow-tow to them.
I remember seeing Airsimmer demonstrating a version of this Airbus at the AVSIM Conference in Washington in September 2006. Three years and one month on, and it still looks the same, superficially finished but presumably not complete.
It reminds me of one of those government procurement projects that overruns its planned timescales by several orders of magnitude. At the end of the day it’s Airsimmer’s absolute prerogative to release whatever, whenever they want, but they do have a great deal to learn about managing the expectations of prospective customers. After all this time, they really should “put up or shut up”.
I had no idea it was in the making for that long. I first heard about it not even a year ago. I don’t understand the attitude from some of their future customers though. Some of them act as if they will die, if not given access to their beloved 320 family right now.
I’ll sit this one out and wait for one of the portals to report the news about the release.
There is value in early releases of information.
You get feedback and a sense of your potential customer base.
You get an idea of your competition – surely it forces other Airbus developments into the public eye.
You get the opportunity to discourage direct competition for some period of time.
Developers do not intentionally build up false hope. Software development is a high risk endeavor, especially when it will be the first serious attempt at something so complex – in this case an accurate Airbus.
Those who are giving Airsimmer grief must have no idea what kind of work goes into this. They must have no idea of what it takes to be the first to do something. They must have no idea of what an open-ended endeavor software development can be.
It’s embarrassing to see such a lack of respect for a group of people who are trying to create something for their enjoyment with a quality-first attitude.