Whilst the announcement of the latest hotfix is very welcome, Microsoft have lost a lot of trust because they have not been completely truthful about the problems.
There was a specific add-on that prevented my copy of MSFS from working. I had purchased it in the Marketplace. I wrote directly to the developer after I noticed that an Update 5 version was available on Simmarket whilst no such update was available in the Marketplace.
He wrote back immediately and told me that he had sent the update to the marketplace WEEKS before the release of update 5. He repeatedly sent them emails asking for the product to be updated and was ignored.
Yesterday he finally received a response informing him that the Marketplace team were taking a holiday and that it would be at least another week before updates started to appear on the Matketplace.
This is disgusting! It is sad to learn that the Narketpkace team treat us customers and developers with such contempt.
Disgusting? Sorry, not true at all… contempt is a very harsh word in this context.
I’ve noticed this from the very start. I doubt I’ll buy anything from the Marketplace exactly for that reason. Kinda smart FBW pulling their Airbus out of there. I dont know why it was added to begin with.
1 Like
I am sorry if you are offended by my rhetoric. However these are the facts:-
-
At least one developer tried, in vain, to have his product updated BEFORE the update was launched. His emails were ignored. The updated version of his product can be found on Simmarket.
-
10 days after the disaster out release of the update, his product STILL hasn’t been updated on the Marketplace.
-
This developer is receiving negative reviews of his work on the Marketplace but rave reviews elsewhere.
-
The old version of his product prevents any flight being started.
-
I spent a week trying to identify what was causing my problems before I discovered that it was this package which I had purchased in the Marketplace. This was a KNOWN issue! If the Marketplace were not able to apply the update that they had been provided WEEKS for the release of the update for whatever reason then the issue should have been indicated in the release notes. Laminar Research regularly do this if they are aware of an issue at release.
-
I have received notifications of a number of updates from 3rd Party developers from whom I purchased software (away from the Marketplace). Not a single package that I have bought from the Marketplace has been updated so far. This adds evidence to the assertion by the developer with whom I have been communicating that the staff running the Marketplace are failing.
I appreciate that words like “disgust” and “contempt “ may not be to your liking…. Fair enough. Perhaps developers and customers are not held in contempt. I am happy to offer them the benefit of the doubt. However, if that is the case, then words such as incompetence, ineptitude, carelessness and disregard would seem to apply instead.
I am more than happy to consider an alternative explanation for the facts that I have outlined.
I totally agree! Sadly I have learned the hard way that, until they get their act together and can offer the same level of timely service that other distributors do not seem to struggle with, the Marketplace is to be avoided.