RELEASED - AirNav RadarBox 2009 - 3.01 Beta - Part 2

[davec]

HI all
i just have looked at the last messages, and am wondering why this is being discussed again.........the fianacial aspects are do it or dont do it , the security aspects ....total rubbish, if airnav use my data and make money out of it to improve and to ad to an already great product well done, last week i watched a flight over europe that had some dear friends on  it ,and this reassured me that they were ok so that was well worth the subscription ,so lets stop this as its been discussed before, i am using this radarbox every day and the only complaint  is  is that it is very adictive
this is my point of view
davec

[Deadcalm]

Regrettably, none of you seem to appreciate the point that is being made here.

You can't sell a product globally on the open market with the proviso that a feature may be illegal to use in some parts of the world, and then make that feature automatically available as a default, thus forcing the uninformed to use it unless he/she has the nouse to switch it off.  That's hypocrisy, and can lead to litigation.

It shouldn't be a question of you wanting this feature to be on, or indeed off, at start up, or about profit and loss, it's about ethics, and the possibility that you as a manufacturer could conceivably lead your clients into unwarranted prosecution.

You can shout me down all you like, but if you examine what is being suggested, you will see that it makes common sense in the interests of ALL concerned.

DC

[AirNav Support]

Whether or not we would be in trouble for allowing the customers the choice to whether they can share or not is theirs. The data is 5 minute delayed anyway.

Those countries who would not even want that would probably not even want an ADS-B decoder picking up local traffic anyway.

Its all murky waters when you start bring legalities across the world. At the end of the day we do give the customer the choice in the same way you can drive at 100mph in car or stick to your local traffic rules.

I think we are moving well of the point here, we have explained our decisions dozens of times now.

[simone.simone]

At the end of the day we do give the customer the choice in the same way you can drive at 100mph in car or stick to your local traffic rules.

It's not the same, because my car by default remain idle, do not start to accelerate automatically till 100mph...

[AirNav Support]

Yes we argue all day with different examples end of the day we give the customer a choice. We will NOT change it due to a few customers who are not sharing (especially when its got nothing to do with legalities with them)

There are bigger things to be concerned about and we have said enough on this topic.

[simone.simone]

We will NOT change it due to a few customers who are not sharing (especially when its got nothing to do with legalities with them)

First, it's not a your matter if an user into legalities wouldn't to share his data...
But why NOT? If you change this option, and you have customers that wants to share data they will continue to share it and vice versa.
In other words, at the moment this option damages only who do not wants/cannot share data, but if you change the option no one will be damaged. So why don't to change? I really do not understand why to be so dull. It's question of common sense, and mine is telling this..yours?

[jgrloit]

I have looked at the fields available in the Airnav entry in the registry.
There is a field defined there as Shareflight data - the value seems to be binary, but whatever it is set to it seems to NOT be read during program startup.
It looks as though historically part of Airnav expected the data to be a saved user option, but the programmers of the user code, either failed to read the value on each startup, or internal politics changed the definition to a FORCED default.
Why can the programmers not read the value from the registry, as expected, and work from there?
It is after ALL MY machine, and I am supposed to expect to be able to control the software on it, rather than have options forced on me.

[AirNav Support]

The last few posts and are asking the same questions over and over and starting to get silly.

They have been answered by us dozens of times now, we have said that its not a bug in the code and why we have implemented it.

Stergia,

That is very rude post of yours. You should have some respect to us who are replying to posts on a weekend about matters like this. I ask you would other customers get anywhere this, they wouldn't even discuss it. Some of you are forgetting the privilage of being able to ask and discuss these matters.

We have replied to all your posts and keep getting back the same thing again and again so we are allowed to say enough is enough.

[Fenris]

It's already been stated up the thread that there is an alternative to turning off sharing for those that want to avoid it altogether. Simply organise a firewall rule to block port 7878.

I really think that continually arguing this one is a waste of everyone's time.

[simone.simone]

Simply organise a firewall rule to block port 7878.

How can I check if the block is really working?
I've to block TCP, UDP or both?
Thanks

[AirNav Support]

Frank,

You can't please everyone. Have a search of the forum of the dozens of discussions on this and our replies.

What you asking us to do is deemed risky by us and could have a detrimental affect on the network. The vast vast majority don't seem to mind so its the best way for us.

If you were the same position us and faced something hard like that you would do exactly what we have done by following the majority and taking the less risky approach.

The last thing we want is for us have the option saved and a few people (other competitors, misinformation) get people to turn it off when they don't need to or using the network anyway. (This has happened) Hence causing the network to be poor, refunds need to be done causing us to suddenly have a large loss on our hands and hence having to cut back other services.

Its very easy for you to sit at home and say things but you need to look at the bigger picture and the business side.

[Tallyho]

Hey Guys
I am not sure why there is all this nasty talk on this forum, there are tools out there for everyone to get what they want.

For instance here is what I use...

Radarbox to view my own local data and upload network data to both radarbox network and PlanePlotter network - reason best and most up to date GUI for an ADS B receiver. I do not subscribe to the AIRNAV network data as I dont agree with their business model not allowing access to the view only "shared" data unless you pay extra. However I do still upload my data to their network so other Radarbox users who do choose to pay Airnav can benefit from my donated data.

PlanePlotter for the access to "live" shared network data (not just view only) and also the ability to track and obtain positional data for non positonal aircraft equiped with Mode S - reason best value for money by far and the added bonus to track non pos Mode S aircraft via MLAT as an optional extra. I also upload my Radarbox data to the PlanePlotter network for other PP users to share. This is true data sharing in my view and  there is only a one time payment for access to the network data (not just view access to the network data as well), MLAT is used to view non pos aircraft, if you are not an MLAT network contributor (Ground Station) then there is a small annual charge, unfortunately RB hardware cannot upload the required MLAT data to PP network so we RB users have to pay albeit a very cheap annual subscription for this capability.

Therefore in my case the reason I remain with Radarbox and not the competition is purely the better GUI (IMHO) for viewing my local data.

However the point I am trying to make is it is a free market and we can choose what products we wish to use to get what we want for what we are prepared to pay , there is no need to for all these war of words.

[Protzenalp]

You can't sell a product globally on the open market with the proviso that a feature may be illegal to use in some parts of the world, and then make that feature automatically available as a default, thus forcing the uninformed to use it unless he/she has the nouse to switch it off.  That's hypocrisy, and can lead to litigation.

Is that really so? There are many products available worldwide that are illegal in some parts of the world. Take air-band receivers for instance. They are widely available and yet in some countries they are illegal. I don't recall it creating such a problem, The whole business about whether it is legal or not is actually a red herring. Most people moaning about it are just too lazy to tick or untick the darn box...

[Protzenalp]

i am a consumer and i don't care much for the business side of things. sorry for being so blunt
frank

By taking that kind of an attitude you disqualify yourself. AirNav are a business. As such they cater to the majority of users. If there is an item which is ok for the majority of users, it would not make good business sense to pander to a noisy minority. Personally I don't have a problem with things the way they are.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                             

[Allocator]

protzenalp, the airnav support is well capable of answering any questions or messages without interference from others who for unknown reasons rally to their defence.
i'm glad for you that you don't have any problems but why advertise that fact?who is interested in that? what is the meaning of your message? you don't have a gripe? then why post? the forum is meant for resolving problems, not praising airnav. you can always start a new thread and name it " i dont have any problems with airnav"
cheers, frank

You see it as a problem, but I don't.

I think that the forum is much more than a 'problem solving' area anyway.  It is a community of like-minded individuals who want to help each other and to help AirNav produce the best possible solution to make our hobby more enjoyable.  Why not praise AirNav if it is deserved.  There are too many people out there in the big wide world who are quick to criticise but slow to praise.  You can get much more from people by working with them rather than shouting at them.

Just my simple view of the world - and completely off topic - sorry.