New design group gates.to is using a dual adware/payware method of offering their products that has confused some people. This press release attempts to explain their plans. For the full details, click on Read More.
We were asked by several users some clarifications about how Adware will work in gates.to/FSNet. Here follow some clarifications that will let you better understand how we do see it.
Adware: paid / unpaid?
The concept is that the program is either used for free with ads or paid for without ads.
This was said in the gates.to site, but apparently not clearly enough, so the texts are being rephrased in a more explicitly way; if any obscure points remain, please let us know and we will try to further improve the descriptions.
This concept seemed to us a decent way to allow everybody to use the program for free, still generating some income to support further development (and ourselves). It is adopted in many widely used programs, like Eudora, Opera and many download managers, apparently without great concerns from the users.
The alternative would be simple: "First pay for it and than use it" as in most FS add-ons; if we can have solid evidence that the majority of the potential users would prefer to pay for it, we are ready to drop this concept.
In any case, the user will have the choice: fed up with the ads? Buy the registration and they will disappear!
Adware: how?
Ads would appear as single-line texts scrolling in the "ATIS green window" without interrupting the simulation and covering a very limited portion of the screen, exactly like the messages notifying of players coming and leaving in a multiplayer session.
We doubt that such a 'disturb' could affect even the most difficult landing but, in case, it would be possible for instance to prevent these messages from appearing when the aircraft is in the vicinity of the ground.
The frequency of the messages is not decided yet but, if the concern is about bandwidth/frame rate, an 80-character message every 15 minutes would be less than 1/2500th of the amount of data transmitted on average by the FS multiplayer system in the same time (and 1/23000th of the amount of data received in a 8-player session): hardly noticeable, we think.
Privacy
The gates.to site includes a detailed privacy statement which is bounding us.
Conclusion
FSNet is still under development and most of the code is still to write. We have some ideas, but other may come from simulation fans. The project can be improved and suggestions, comments and criticisms, even deep and far-reaching but constructive, will be welcome.
Best regards
Ugo Grandolini and Maurizio M. Gavioli
http://www.gates.to/
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