It’s totally disastrous! And I absolutely will never ever buy or install something from this company again! And the way some FS sites are handling this criminal act is totally out of question as well! Glad to see people like you and Froogle clearly phrase their opinion! Thank you!
Yeah, in that case the test.exe is indeed not an issue at all. If someone can run that test.exe on your computer he already has full access. So there is absolutely no point for them to run it. And i find it still interesting that everyone is talking about FSL test.exe but doesnt realize that the test.exe is actually only a small part of the issue. The actuall big issue is people storing their passwords in a Browser, they save them to their harddrives, and typically synchronize them with Google and Mozilla and so on.
WHAT? The problem is not that FSL intentionally distributed malware onto every single customer's computer (whether or not it ran is irrelevant), but rather that people are keeping their passwords in their browser? Is that seriously your counter argument?
The actual big issue is people storing their passwords in a browser, and not another program deceptively mining it / shipping it off to a vulnerable server/using it to log in to others' accounts? Are you fucking mad?
Sad thing is a lot of people after all believe it was acceptable. It makes me so angry but there are a lot of complete idiots running around and saying like "that was two years ago why you care they're cool" and don't realize who Lefteris is.
"Malware Labs" should be sued as it's ILLEAGAL activity and against Consumer rights in both Europe and the USA etc. Not to mention unethical for flight Simm companies to sell the product also. I wonder if flight Simm online stores knew about this.
I do not even use FSLabs since I lost my last machine, but I run a technology securities company and if I had reinstalled P3D and FSLabs on any of my machine then my entire franchise could have been lost. Therefore not only to I encourage filing civil suits against this company, I will also gladly sign a petition for refunds across the board! Reparations must be paid!
I play XP11, DCS World, iRacing and other sim racing titles. I have various modules for DCS, waiting for F/A-18C that's currently costing USD 60. I'm aware of this mods for simulators market. It's a niche and yada yada, but I still think USD140 is an insane price for a single module, no matter what kind of work was put in that single plane, it cost more than twice the price of the game it needs to run on.
Thank you for this perfect explanation. I'm German so I'm one of those "pain in the ass customer protection guys" but it is unbelievable how they can get away with that and still sell planes. They have to be forced to refund every plane that people want to have refunded, I seriously hope that they will be able to enjoy lawsuits in many different countries and I hope that they get fined into the abyss. I will definitely never buy any FSLab products and I will tell everyone I know that they shouldn't do that either. 13:15 this is the best part I think. Most people miss that a pirated software is not a lost sale and most people come back to buy products from the same company when they can afford it (maybe they were students before and got a job) That's why microsoft doesn't care too much about pirating windows because they know that most people that do that can't afford it so they wouldn't buy it anyways. But most of these people also come back and eventually buy windows when they can afford it.
Thanks for watching. For the record, strict consumer protection laws are a wonderful thing and I wish we (USA) were more like countries in Europe. The point on pirated software will probably be lost on most people, but is one of the most important things to consider in my opinion.
"Thanks for agreeing to come clean my house at short notice, you did a great job as well. btw, what's the can of petrol for?" "Well, sometimes people don't pay me. Oh, don't worry, this is only for the bad people; you paid me so you're fine. Same time next week?"
Avsim continues their streak of being the most over-moderated sterile flightsim community on the internet by not allowing the topic to be discussed. It was a huge disservice to the community by not warning everyone and sticking their fingers in their ears to stay neutral when it was in the best interest of the community - who makes them who they are - to put a developer in their place. @castrator - thanks for having the brass to say what needed to be said.
Avsim are pure scum, they coudn't care less about the welbeing of their users. I've just been on the phone to my Bank to explain that someone without my permission has bought car insurance using my details for a vehicle in the UK for £1250. I have IP logs of multiple attempts to log in to my Google account from the UK and Germany between 25 February and 3rd of March. This was the same time period FSlabs put a malware on the A320. Coincidence? Maybe but it's very unlikely. All I need now is to get a lawyer and get a court order for the insurance company to disclose the identity of the person who used my stolen details to buy car insurance from them. If there is a match between them and Fslabs, you can kiss goodbye to Malware Labs. They are all going behind bars.
Yeah you are right about the refunds I bought the p3dv3 version and since I got a free upgrade they basiclly gave me a refund on the upgrade which means ZERO dollars in refund.
Thank you for putting this in a standalone video, I saw the stream, but this way more people will have a chance to see it. Good job and keep putting out news that others won't or can't.
I run my PC as a user not a local admin and i enter a password should i need to. No need to run as a local admin all the time and in the UK users under the new GDPR rules are not allowed to.
You have to wonder how the CEO thought doing this would go any other way. It was always going to be found out at some time or another and then your company is sunk.
ItsNovaYT How could you even consider buying the FSL Airbus after watching this video? They’re criminals and will likely go out of business as a result of their activities.
more FSLabs news They offer a refund I ask for refund They refund $0 as I had a free upgrade from v3 to v4!!! I only bought it in v3 on their promise of an upgrade Are they trying to annoy us?
I 100% agree with you. There will always be some idiots that will destroy their total business to try to catch one other idiot that tries to not pay for a product or service. Kind of like a department store strip searching every customer on the way out to try to prevent retail theft.......
I got the refund because I bought only the P3Dv4 version, but they tried to make it look like I bought it for P3Dv3 before. Congrats for the video, its probably the most informative one in the subject. I've been telling this to friends since it happened and nobody cares, lets see if things change now.
It has apparently been in all products since 2015. It was probably there but binded so you can't see it. They had issues with the installer and therefore probs became sloppy and forgot to bind it and just chucked it in. And nice Windows XP key :P
Don't agree with the company but too addicted to the products to not get them. Like you said the fidelity of their product is pretty much unmatched and I'm a Boeing fan.
FSL are not the first developer and will not be the last to suggest disabling anti-virus while running the installer. That's because installers tend to do things which trigger AV false positives and may prevent some files being written to disk. For example Aerosoft recommend it. Captain Sim installers always show up as potential threats. PMDG have test tools which show false positives. What's different this time is that FSL deliberately included spyware in their installer. However their advice to disable AV during installation has always been there, it didn't just appear with the P3Dv4 installer. My AV didn't detect test.exe being written (it would have detected it being run). Nor did test.exe get left on my PC. Even if it had been left there and a hacker happened to get in and try to run it the AV would detect it. That particular scare story is nonsense. Certainly including test.exe briefly increased the risk of my machine being compromised. However test.exe could get installed on your PC from a lot of different sources. Let's not get carried away and suggest FSL was the only source. Am I happy with FSL for doing this? Of course not. Trying to identify the pirate was completely misconceived. However I'm also not going to deny myself access to this wonderful sim because harm might have been done (but wasn't).
Saying it's acceptable because other people could do it is absurd. I install and use a ton of software and never have to disable protection for it; don't know what makes flightsim addons so different.
How exactly am I not subscribed to you? I've been watching your channel for ages (setup my X56 Rhino using your tut)....I'm almost certain I subbed already. Good video btw.
Completely shocked by this stupidity. Such a great product and they’ve put the whole company at risk. I hadn’t got round to upgrading to this version and glad I didn’t. I would be surprised if they survive this.
Petition for V3 users, so we can ask for a refund? I asked for a refund, but it got denied. Since I am a V3 free upgrade user, I wont get a refund. Where does this make sense? I used the V4 too, so I had this shit test.exe on my system too, no matter if I am free upgrade user or not. Get it straight fslabs, you are once again going to wrong way. excuses excuses excuses. Al the bigballs, who forgive fslabs, should get their act straight. "Well yea, its a wrong turn what fslabs did, but let us forgive them" Wtf is wrong with you people..? if steam, ubisoft or else who you wouldnt forgive them would you? Get your acts straight, jesus!
Well said Castrator, I happen to be a p3d fsx and v4 customer of theirs and well I feel so lied to by them and what annoys me more is the people that chew me out for saying my point and that they are happy to let Fslabs do this to them! Idiots!. Andrew Wilson needs to explain himself too, he is a co owner of Fslabs company and has some how disappeared of the radar, probably with all our information too.
I had my Google passwords stolen and car insurance bought unknowingly. I have IP logs of these unauthorised attempts. If I can get a match, I will sue Fslabs and win 100%. They have dug their own grave. They were dumb enough to buy car insurance. The car insurance was bought in the UK for £1250. The insurance company will have to comply with court orders and release the details for the person who stole my information and bought their car insurance. It's not that difficult despite VPN masking. Bye bye FSlabs. You will all be behind bars very soon.
If you ask for a refund they will refund you ASAP and take back that same amount because they hacked your credit card details ...lol and then there are the developers who lie in in your face about system requirements , and your hefty , beefy tyrannosaur of a machine can hardly manage 25 FPS. Because of all that bullshit I became a big pirates supporter. Cracked X Plane 11 , cracked every plane and none of them have malware. My hefty P.C struggles but I least my wallet gets good FPS.
this is why i will never actually pay for software like this too expensive intrusive DRM shady company il stick with my pirated version of this even if i had the $140 (which is nearly $250 here in australia) i still wouldnt pay since i have other expenses that are more important
The guys at fslabs might be a good designers but they do not know how to make business at all. I do not feel comfortable to buy from them anymore. I was just waiting for P3D update 4.2 AND purchase their A320X. I'd better go to buy MaddogX. What a stupid way to turn the rope around their own neck and even worst, jump from the chair. What a pity though.
It's nice that you and Pete have opened up on this. I think a lot of TH-camrs are in the developers pockets, scared to say the wrong thing so they don't get free or early addons. It was reported on one TH-cam channel that Matt Davis had a private phone call with Flight Sim Labs about it and then helped to try and cover it up.
I've not heard of any private phone calls, so I won't make assumptions. This is definitely news that should be covered more widely, but you're right... it does feel swept under the rug.
You're probably right, I've only started using X-Plane since XP11, so don't have a feel for the integrity of the developers. But I've definitely had a number of bad experiences with FSX/P3D because I've been using it for a long time (eg Skysim abandoning its BAE Hawk, rendering it useless due to DRM registration process, more recently DRM and P3D4 compatibility problems with Black Box aircraft and non-existent support). I think the problem is that FSX/P3D historically had a vastly larger user base than X-Plane, therefore a larger developer community, which statistically will produce more "bad apples"
I've been using x plane since the release day of x plane 10. Honestly the community surrounding x plane is better than any other. I have never had a problem with a developer in x plane and don't think i ever will. Hopefully they remain the same!
Castrator, $140 is NOT a lot of money for a simulation that is the caliber of the FSL A320 There are plenty of much less expensive Airbus simulations for people who just want a very good Airbus at a below $60 price. Someone who pays $140 for an aircraft simulation is because they want the real aircraft on their computer. I am happy to pay more for developers who make study-level simulations of aircraft. I have never been sorry that I bought the FSL A320. Now I'm disgusted that this story has come out, but I'm not 100% sold that this is the complete story yet.
They dug their own grave, it was through their own actions and their own sheer stupidity. Do they make good products? yes, lets be honest its a PR fuck up, perhaps the end of their company! Not only is it bad enough that they installed malware in their software, putting THEIR PAYING USERS at risk but their response to it is suicide. They have being denying users refunds just because the "update" to V4 was free. There is nothing more to the story other than a stupid CEO taking an uncalculated, short sighted and utterly retarded decision, then acting like a grade one prick when called out for it! It is 100% inexcusable for their action and tbh no matter how good their products are the sooner they are gone the better!
I've yet to see them do an aircraft, even at the $140 range that matches exactly to the real thing, so that point doesn't hold to their reason for their prices.
great reply! I'm just so shocked at the number of people downplaying this as a minor incident. It's such a shame they have a really good and had a great future ahead with a remake of the Concord. But I don't think ill be buying anything from FSL anytime soon
$140 is not a lot if you're someone in a wealth country like America. If you start looking at eastern european and other less well off countries then this is absolutely a lot of money.
Only risk was for those who are using a pirate version. The test.exe was designed to execute when being fed a pirated password, only. I do agree though that, they should not have done it. Bona-fida customers have no worries.
What if you get a false positive? They have violated both UK Computer Misuse Act and Data Protection Act by not securing the harvested personal data. Both of which are criminal offences in the UK with prospect of jail time.
Citation needed - citation needed that designed/intended = how it will run, citation needed that false positives can't happen, citation needed that it isn't naive to think as you do.
If they're willing to put the software in their software and not tell anyone about it, then who knows what else they're capable of doing. Personally I wouldn't trust anything they say in regards to this issue.
It’s totally disastrous! And I absolutely will never ever buy or install something from this company again! And the way some FS sites are handling this criminal act is totally out of question as well! Glad to see people like you and Froogle clearly phrase their opinion! Thank you!
100% agreed, as a Security professional myself I can't believe they thought this was acceptable.
Yeah, in that case the test.exe is indeed not an issue at all.
If someone can run that test.exe on your computer he already has full access. So there is absolutely no point for them to run it.
And i find it still interesting that everyone is talking about FSL test.exe but doesnt realize that the test.exe is actually only a small part of the issue.
The actuall big issue is people storing their passwords in a Browser, they save them to their harddrives, and typically synchronize them with Google and Mozilla and so on.
WHAT? The problem is not that FSL intentionally distributed malware onto every single customer's computer (whether or not it ran is irrelevant), but rather that people are keeping their passwords in their browser? Is that seriously your counter argument?
The actual big issue is people storing their passwords in a browser, and not another program deceptively mining it / shipping it off to a vulnerable server/using it to log in to others' accounts? Are you fucking mad?
Yeah classic idiots blame the people not the criminal...
Sad thing is a lot of people after all believe it was acceptable. It makes me so angry but there are a lot of complete idiots running around and saying like "that was two years ago why you care they're cool" and don't realize who Lefteris is.
"Malware Labs" should be sued as it's ILLEAGAL activity and against Consumer rights in both Europe and the USA etc.
Not to mention unethical for flight Simm companies to sell the product also.
I wonder if flight Simm online stores knew about this.
im with you on that they should be sued thit is Illegal activity and against Consumer rights and i hope it happens
Sounds like only Leftaris was in the know on this one. Still not good
I do not even use FSLabs since I lost my last machine, but I run a technology securities company and if I had reinstalled P3D and FSLabs on any of my machine then my entire franchise could have been lost. Therefore not only to I encourage filing civil suits against this company, I will also gladly sign a petition for refunds across the board! Reparations must be paid!
Here here!
Fslabs is a great program and have removed the malware and it wouldn't target you
USD 140 for the plane??? really??? and they put a malware on it??? this is all insane. they deserve to be out of business.
Crazy isn't it
I play XP11, DCS World, iRacing and other sim racing titles. I have various modules for DCS, waiting for F/A-18C that's currently costing USD 60. I'm aware of this mods for simulators market. It's a niche and yada yada, but I still think USD140 is an insane price for a single module, no matter what kind of work was put in that single plane, it cost more than twice the price of the game it needs to run on.
Thank you for this perfect explanation.
I'm German so I'm one of those "pain in the ass customer protection guys" but it is unbelievable how they can get away with that and still sell planes. They have to be forced to refund every plane that people want to have refunded, I seriously hope that they will be able to enjoy lawsuits in many different countries and I hope that they get fined into the abyss.
I will definitely never buy any FSLab products and I will tell everyone I know that they shouldn't do that either.
13:15 this is the best part I think. Most people miss that a pirated software is not a lost sale and most people come back to buy products from the same company when they can afford it (maybe they were students before and got a job)
That's why microsoft doesn't care too much about pirating windows because they know that most people that do that can't afford it so they wouldn't buy it anyways. But most of these people also come back and eventually buy windows when they can afford it.
Thanks for watching. For the record, strict consumer protection laws are a wonderful thing and I wish we (USA) were more like countries in Europe. The point on pirated software will probably be lost on most people, but is one of the most important things to consider in my opinion.
"Thanks for agreeing to come clean my house at short notice, you did a great job as well. btw, what's the can of petrol for?" "Well, sometimes people don't pay me. Oh, don't worry, this is only for the bad people; you paid me so you're fine. Same time next week?"
They should honestly take the developers that were not involved with the scandal and integrate them into the FlyTheMaddog team!
That would be great!
Yeah.. I feel so sorry for the other developers who were not involved in this crap that Leftaris did.
Matthew Lee Fuck that guy basically
Fslabs basically just dug their own grave
Certainly a good chance of it
Avsim continues their streak of being the most over-moderated sterile flightsim community on the internet by not allowing the topic to be discussed. It was a huge disservice to the community by not warning everyone and sticking their fingers in their ears to stay neutral when it was in the best interest of the community - who makes them who they are - to put a developer in their place. @castrator - thanks for having the brass to say what needed to be said.
Thanks for watching! The AVSIM response seems to be pretty common, sadly. Everyone is in bed together.
Avsim are pure scum, they coudn't care less about the welbeing of their users. I've just been on the phone to my Bank to explain that someone without my permission has bought car insurance using my details for a vehicle in the UK for £1250. I have IP logs of multiple attempts to log in to my Google account from the UK and Germany between 25 February and 3rd of March. This was the same time period FSlabs put a malware on the A320. Coincidence? Maybe but it's very unlikely. All I need now is to get a lawyer and get a court order for the insurance company to disclose the identity of the person who used my stolen details to buy car insurance from them. If there is a match between them and Fslabs, you can kiss goodbye to Malware Labs. They are all going behind bars.
@@BigJohnson911 fslabs wouldn't target you of you didn't crack it and was targeting 1 person which was cracking the plane still illegal
Yeah you are right about the refunds I bought the p3dv3 version and since I got a free upgrade they basiclly gave me a refund on the upgrade which means ZERO dollars in refund.
Quite the bad response from them :(.
Thank you for putting this in a standalone video, I saw the stream, but this way more people will have a chance to see it. Good job and keep putting out news that others won't or can't.
I'm glad that people have both watched and found it informative!
I was thinking about getting the Concorde-X for FSX. Not happening now. I'll go buy the QW787 instead.
I think a lot of people will be in the same boat.
Excellent points. Thanks for sharing this.
Thanks for watching
How do I know if this is on my pc and how do I get rid of it?!
Is the test.exe located in all of the A320X installers (FSX, P3D V3, P3D V4) or just the P3D V4 installer?
Cause if it's p3d v3 I want a refund
Ashley Harrison Only for people using p3dv4
MAN’S NOT-HOT as least it's not all installers. But as catstrator mentions it's highly illegal and unsafe. Shame on you FSLabs.
Ashley Harrison Never ever buying something from FSLABS!
What the hell. Honestly
How did they think this would be ok?
I run my PC as a user not a local admin and i enter a password should i need to. No need to run as a local admin all the time and in the UK users under the new GDPR rules are not allowed to.
That's a good way to be. Most of these installers request admin rights at runtime, though, to be able to do their work.
thank you for alerting the community and those (like myself who do not follow FS news to the T)...
Thank you for watching
You have to wonder how the CEO thought doing this would go any other way. It was always going to be found out at some time or another and then your company is sunk.
Who knows. Sadly he has a history of promoting this kind of behavior.
So is it still worth it to buy the plane or should I keep with Aerosoft?
ItsNovaYT How could you even consider buying the FSL Airbus after watching this video? They’re criminals and will likely go out of business as a result of their activities.
agreed, Be very wary of buying from them if they do go out of business you might not be able to activate the product (just speculation of course )
That's really up to you. Personally I'll never do business with them.
more FSLabs news
They offer a refund
I ask for refund
They refund $0 as I had a free upgrade from v3 to v4!!!
I only bought it in v3 on their promise of an upgrade
Are they trying to annoy us?
Great PR, yeah?
I 100% agree with you. There will always be some idiots that will destroy their total business to try to catch one other idiot that tries to not pay for a product or service. Kind of like a department store strip searching every customer on the way out to try to prevent retail theft.......
This is a great analogy
And what if I don’t use chrome?
If you've removed the old installers you should be in good shape. The software only attacks chrome so your information should be safe.
I got the refund because I bought only the P3Dv4 version, but they tried to make it look like I bought it for P3Dv3 before.
Congrats for the video, its probably the most informative one in the subject. I've been telling this to friends since it happened and nobody cares, lets see if things change now.
Thanks for watching. In the end I have a strong feeling that most people will turn a blind eye.
It has apparently been in all products since 2015. It was probably there but binded so you can't see it. They had issues with the installer and therefore probs became sloppy and forgot to bind it and just chucked it in.
And nice Windows XP key :P
is there any proof this has been in previous installers?
I've not seen any reports of it being in previous installers, but I wouldn't be surprised if there was something similar done.
Don't agree with the company but too addicted to the products to not get them. Like you said the fidelity of their product is pretty much unmatched and I'm a Boeing fan.
FSL are not the first developer and will not be the last to suggest disabling anti-virus while running the installer. That's because installers tend to do things which trigger AV false positives and may prevent some files being written to disk. For example Aerosoft recommend it. Captain Sim installers always show up as potential threats. PMDG have test tools which show false positives. What's different this time is that FSL deliberately included spyware in their installer. However their advice to disable AV during installation has always been there, it didn't just appear with the P3Dv4 installer.
My AV didn't detect test.exe being written (it would have detected it being run). Nor did test.exe get left on my PC. Even if it had been left there and a hacker happened to get in and try to run it the AV would detect it. That particular scare story is nonsense.
Certainly including test.exe briefly increased the risk of my machine being compromised. However test.exe could get installed on your PC from a lot of different sources. Let's not get carried away and suggest FSL was the only source. Am I happy with FSL for doing this? Of course not. Trying to identify the pirate was completely misconceived. However I'm also not going to deny myself access to this wonderful sim because harm might have been done (but wasn't).
Saying it's acceptable because other people could do it is absurd. I install and use a ton of software and never have to disable protection for it; don't know what makes flightsim addons so different.
How exactly am I not subscribed to you? I've been watching your channel for ages (setup my X56 Rhino using your tut)....I'm almost certain I subbed already. Good video btw.
I won't judge ;). Welcome aboard!
Thanks for the info Ty. I appreciate your thoughts.
Thank you for watching
Completely shocked by this stupidity. Such a great product and they’ve put the whole company at risk. I hadn’t got round to upgrading to this version and glad I didn’t. I would be surprised if they survive this.
A wonderful product crippled by poor leadership :(
The aerosoft a320 is more customizable and safer than the fsl a320
Petition for V3 users, so we can ask for a refund? I asked for a refund, but it got denied. Since I am a V3 free upgrade user, I wont get a refund. Where does this make sense? I used the V4 too, so I had this shit test.exe on my system too, no matter if I am free upgrade user or not. Get it straight fslabs, you are once again going to wrong way. excuses excuses excuses. Al the bigballs, who forgive fslabs, should get their act straight. "Well yea, its a wrong turn what fslabs did, but let us forgive them" Wtf is wrong with you people..? if steam, ubisoft or else who you wouldnt forgive them would you? Get your acts straight, jesus!
Sadly I doubt this will work :(
catstrator We could give it a try...
13:02 windows XP installation key lmao
;)
Great breakdown of the situation.
Thanks for watching!
Spot On! The CEO needs jail time...
The aerosoft a320 will work fine for me. It’s pretty much the same Airbuses are easy to fly.
And they manage to get away. No lawsuit at all.
GG
The DRM should just disable the simulator. Where do they get the rights to steal your personal information?
Put perfectly! Thanks for sharing this video
Thanks for watching!
@catstrator your videos are awesome, I am definitely subscribing ! :) big up and oh ! by the ways, those clouds are awesome,can I ask what it is ?
I'm using default clouds.
Well said Castrator, I happen to be a p3d fsx and v4 customer of theirs and well I feel so lied to by them and what annoys me more is the people that chew me out for saying my point and that they are happy to let Fslabs do this to them! Idiots!. Andrew Wilson needs to explain himself too, he is a co owner of Fslabs company and has some how disappeared of the radar, probably with all our information too.
Lots of people feel burned on this one for sure.
I had my Google passwords stolen and car insurance bought unknowingly. I have IP logs of these unauthorised attempts. If I can get a match, I will sue Fslabs and win 100%. They have dug their own grave. They were dumb enough to buy car insurance. The car insurance was bought in the UK for £1250. The insurance company will have to comply with court orders and release the details for the person who stole my information and bought their car insurance. It's not that difficult despite VPN masking. Bye bye FSlabs. You will all be behind bars very soon.
thank god i dint buy their product , and now im 100% sure i never will thanks alot for this video Catstrator keep up the good work my friend
Thanks for watching!
If you ask for a refund they will refund you ASAP and take back that same amount because they hacked your credit card details ...lol
and then there are the developers who lie in in your face about system requirements , and your hefty , beefy tyrannosaur of a machine can hardly manage 25 FPS.
Because of all that bullshit I became a big pirates supporter. Cracked X Plane 11 , cracked every plane and none of them have malware.
My hefty P.C struggles but I least my wallet gets good FPS.
this is why i will never actually pay for software like this
too expensive
intrusive DRM
shady company
il stick with my pirated version of this
even if i had the $140 (which is nearly $250 here in australia) i still wouldnt pay since i have other expenses that are more important
All I have to say is "wow".
I didn't get a refund also
That sucks :(
The guys at fslabs might be a good designers but they do not know how to make business at all. I do not feel comfortable to buy from them anymore. I was just waiting for P3D update 4.2 AND purchase their A320X. I'd better go to buy MaddogX. What a stupid way to turn the rope around their own neck and even worst, jump from the chair. What a pity though.
I think a lot of people feel this way. Hopefully people don't forget this when they release their next product.
Kalamaras has a criminal behavior.
Very well put
i don't buy fslabs products because too expensive....
I am SOOOO glad that I did not buy ANYTHING from FSL!!!
I don't buy Airbus products.
So dont run a pooched copy of the software??.....
Amen...1000% with you👍👍
Good thing I don't use Chrome! 😃
JayManLive - oh shit
So right Bro
I bought the v4 version and got a refund so at least theres that... but yeah this is all bullshit..
Glad to hear you got your money back!
It's nice that you and Pete have opened up on this. I think a lot of TH-camrs are in the developers pockets, scared to say the wrong thing so they don't get free or early addons. It was reported on one TH-cam channel that Matt Davis had a private phone call with Flight Sim Labs about it and then helped to try and cover it up.
I've not heard of any private phone calls, so I won't make assumptions. This is definitely news that should be covered more widely, but you're right... it does feel swept under the rug.
Thank God i've only ever used x plane and now only ever will
X-Plane developers can do this as well. Not P3D's fault, it's the developer
I've got nothing against p3d but this stuff just hasn't happened yet in x plane
You're probably right, I've only started using X-Plane since XP11, so don't have a feel for the integrity of the developers. But I've definitely had a number of bad experiences with FSX/P3D because I've been using it for a long time (eg Skysim abandoning its BAE Hawk, rendering it useless due to DRM registration process, more recently DRM and P3D4 compatibility problems with Black Box aircraft and non-existent support). I think the problem is that FSX/P3D historically had a vastly larger user base than X-Plane, therefore a larger developer community, which statistically will produce more "bad apples"
I've been using x plane since the release day of x plane 10. Honestly the community surrounding x plane is better than any other. I have never had a problem with a developer in x plane and don't think i ever will. Hopefully they remain the same!
I'm sure x-plane developers have their own skeletons, too. Let's hope it's nothing as bad as this.
Lets sue em and get rich
srsly. like soo costly!!!!! I purchased the pmdg 737 Its better than that shit.
good i am a boeing lover ;p
Haha!
I pirated that thing :X................. I DGF I DONT USE CHROME XDXDXDXDXDXD
Interesting Rant.
Castrator, $140 is NOT a lot of money for a simulation that is the caliber of the FSL A320
There are plenty of much less expensive Airbus simulations for people who just want a very good Airbus at a below $60 price.
Someone who pays $140 for an aircraft simulation is because they want the real aircraft on their computer.
I am happy to pay more for developers who make study-level simulations of aircraft.
I have never been sorry that I bought the FSL A320. Now I'm disgusted that this story has come out, but I'm not 100% sold that this is the complete story yet.
They dug their own grave, it was through their own actions and their own sheer stupidity. Do they make good products? yes, lets be honest its a PR fuck up, perhaps the end of their company! Not only is it bad enough that they installed malware in their software, putting THEIR PAYING USERS at risk but their response to it is suicide. They have being denying users refunds just because the "update" to V4 was free. There is nothing more to the story other than a stupid CEO taking an uncalculated, short sighted and utterly retarded decision, then acting like a grade one prick when called out for it! It is 100% inexcusable for their action and tbh no matter how good their products are the sooner they are gone the better!
I've yet to see them do an aircraft, even at the $140 range that matches exactly to the real thing, so that point doesn't hold to their reason for their prices.
great reply! I'm just so shocked at the number of people downplaying this as a minor incident. It's such a shame they have a really good and had a great future ahead with a remake of the Concord. But I don't think ill be buying anything from FSL anytime soon
$140 is not a lot if you're someone in a wealth country like America. If you start looking at eastern european and other less well off countries then this is absolutely a lot of money.
It's 250 bucks in Australia thats a lot of money.
Only risk was for those who are using a pirate version. The test.exe was designed to execute when being fed a pirated password, only. I do agree though that, they should not have done it. Bona-fida customers have no worries.
What if you get a false positive? They have violated both UK Computer Misuse Act and Data Protection Act by not securing the harvested personal data. Both of which are criminal offences in the UK with prospect of jail time.
Bona-fide customers DO have worries, because they've installed data-harvesting malware which either the company or pirates could use against them.
Citation needed - citation needed that designed/intended = how it will run, citation needed that false positives can't happen, citation needed that it isn't naive to think as you do.
If they're willing to put the software in their software and not tell anyone about it, then who knows what else they're capable of doing. Personally I wouldn't trust anything they say in regards to this issue.