While the thing compiles...

Waiting idly, while a build is taking place for the PMDG 747-400F (The Cargo) can become very boring, very quickly, so I was trying to find something of interest to look at in the mean time. A full rebuild usually takes about 10 minutes, so in just that time, I bumped onto a couple web sites that made me laugh:

The first was one of those "now, how didn't I think of that first" types, where for ten seconds, you might consider that this is a cool idea, but afterwards you know that it won't work, now the novelty has worn off: The Million Dollar Homepage. I call this my "simple redistribution of wealth" principle: Money flows from those who have no ideas to those who have an idea, however stupid it might be.

The second was a derivative, that actually came from one of the advertised sites through the Million Dollar homepage. Now, you might have seen this a gazillion times before: The "Get Rich Quick" scams, that offer to make you a millionaire in no time, by just buying and reading this book, etc. etc. (obviously, the author is the one getting rich quick). This site, though, has a twist; it insults and cajoles the reader in such a way that it might just work enough to make them part with their money... Well, make up your own mind on it: Here's the Rich Jerk's home page. Amazing what people do for fame...

Users... users...

I was perusing our support forum the other day, checking to see if I could help someone by responding to a call for help or by showing new cool features that will be in the 747-400F (our Cargo product), I bumped onto a post that wrote (in reference to us deciding not to do wingviews):

I bet that when they re-write it they will also loose the ability for wing views like the 747. In that case, I definately won't buy it.

Please, I do not want any replies about other payware that can do this. It should be standard. Period.

I don't know about you, but it kinda ruined my day... Thankfully, it seems that our customers and friends feel otherwise, so I am grateful for them coming to my support (for a change :-)).

Click here to view the entire post...

How to whine creatively...

From time to time, we receive some odd-ball requests via our support@ email. Robert Randazzo alerted me to this one, sent by a guy I'll call "JT" - does it not win the whiner of the month award, considering that our customer account details are held entirely on our servers?

Subject: Frustrated

Hello PMDG,

I have recently had a large computer crash which tore down my accounts on Support, eCommerce, and my 737 and 747 are gone. I have been talking to this service about this for almost a month now, but have only gotten my 737NG back. That was on a seperate computer which my eCommerce account was not deleted. The 747 was deleted off this computer and I keep trying to get it back and locate my eCommerce account used on this e-mail address. Kudos for getting me my 737 back, but I keep getting denied another link back to my 747. It isn't my fault that my eCommerce accounts were wiped out, and I have been trying all the time to find it again. No success. So it would save so much hassle if I could just get my 747 back without the pain of spending another $54.99. I just think spending 109.98 is ridiculous and not worth my time for one 747. There is absolutley nothing wrong with the product but I would at least like it back!

Thank you,
(JT)