Month: February 2024

Talking Flight Monitor’s pricing model revealed, a sim update 15 bug and more

by

Welcome along to this latest TFM blog post. This week, we’ll be covering, amongst other points, the pricing for the upcoming release, the new TFM ticket system, and a sim update 15 bug that means you should not update to the beta just yet.

Pricing Model

We will be charging 9.99 dollars per month, or 100 dollars per year, for access to the TFM subscription. This will include the latest TFM version with frequent feature updates, the ability to apply for beta versions, and the ability to receive official support.

We believe this pricing model is proportionate to the value you as a consumer will receive, particularly with reference to upcoming features, some of which are under investigation as we speak. It also ensures that the project will remain sustainable in the longer-term.

A reminder that for the moment, the old release version of TFM remains freely available on the site up until the release of the subscription model. We will speak more at the time of the paid release with regard to keeping a free, unsupported version of tfm around, but rest assured this, alongside the pricing model, have been carefully considered.

sim update 15 fmc bug

Some users have reported having difficulties with tfm and the pmdg 737 in MSFS sim update 15, in that the output of the FMC could not be received. We believe this is an issue on Microsoft’s end, as many users have reported having blackouts within the cockpit in various aircraft and with FSUIPC7 uninstalled. We hope this issue will be fixed before the release, and believe it is something Microsoft are looking into at the time of writing.

support ticketing system

TFM has a new ticketing system which allows users to receive support. Visit talkingflightmonitor.com/contact

to send a request, and it will be catalogued so that an agent can respond. Note that bug reports and suggestions will be handled through a different platform once we have the release out and the beta cycle up and running. This system is for support if you as a user are having difficulties with a part of talking flight monitor’s operation. Other unofficial channels, such as WhatsApp groups, remain open but are, as always, more difficult to organise.

documentation

Applications for documentation remain open at this time. Drop a member of the team a private message or send an email to info@talkingflightmonitor.com with your application. Refer to the previous post for full details, but note that this application can be for video or written documentation, with an example included for one of the MCP boxes for the pmdg 737 within tfm. We will leave applications open for at least a further week, and will let you know when they are closed. Keep in mind we may form a small team for this project if necessary.

concluding thoughts

Thanks for sticking with us through this transition. Stay tuned for more information as we near the release. We hope to soon be able to turn away from talk of a transition and toward talk of feature roadmaps. The 737 remains to be finished, whilst some other features are currently in the early stages of exploration.

As always, send in thoughts, suggestions and requests, we will try to provide an official response.

Declan.

A New Chapter for Talking Flight Monitor

by

Welcome to a vital update from Talking Flight Monitor (TFM), brought to you by Declan, your new Communications Manager. This week marks a significant milestone for the project, so it’s important you read this post in full to gain an understanding of the new landscape in its entirety.

 

Management transition

As you may have seen over the past week, TFM’s management processes have undergone a transition. Andy and Jason believed that, given the shift to payware and the increase in tasks and expectation that this would lead to, it was necessary to diversify the ways in which TFM consults with the community. They therefore decided to create a ‘tfm taskforce’ comprised of three individuals to support in managing different parts of the project. This trio, including myself, is set to spearhead various new segments of the project, ensuring a seamless and efficient operation.

 

As the Communications Manager, my role encompasses handling all forms of communication, including this blog, and fostering a dialogue with our valued community. I’m here to bridge your thoughts with actionable outcomes, working closely with the team to ensure your voice is heard, valued, and acted upon.

Rob Kipp joins us to steer the logistical aspect, focusing primarily on our transition to beta cycles, which is crucial for refining our offerings. Meanwhile, Gus Pacleb will lend his expertise in crafting clear, long-term strategies for feature planning, ensuring TFM’s roadmap is both ambitious and achievable.

Andy continues to lead the development efforts, with Jason providing support and advisory insights when possible. This collective effort aims to secure a future for TFM where quality and innovation are at the forefront, reflecting our commitment to excellence as we move towards a payware model.

 

Website downtime

You may have noticed some temporary downtime with the TFM website. The transition to a new server was completed much quicker than expected, and the website has returned to normal operations for now. Expect to see some fluctuation with the site over the next month, I.E individual pages not working as expected, as we continue the transition. If you have a particular issue on a given day, keep trying. Hopefully you’ll notice a slightly smoother experience, and this marks the beginning of Andy’s switch to focus full-time on TFM to reflect the necessary increase in development in the coming months. You should, as happened in this case, begin to see the fruits of this decision.

 

Contact methodology and support

We understand this transition brings questions and maybe even concerns. Rest assured, our team is fully committed to delivering value that meets your expectations and that is ultimately proportional to the subscription fee.

Our engagement channels remain open through the official contact form on our website or via email at info@talkingflightmonitor.com. Additionally, I’m personally available for private discussions through dm, acknowledging the relationships I’ve built within this community.

Support will remain a cornerstone of our service. We aim to provide clear, focused assistance on TFM-related inquiries through our official channels. We remind you that TFM support cannot provide you with detailed guides on aircraft systems or simulator issues and will focus primarily upon the workings of TFM which is, ultimately, simply a tool to give you access to other complex addons which all have individual support mechanisms alongside documentation of their own. We would be grateful therefore if you could keep questions routed in specifics. As we develop our documentation, we anticipate this will streamline support requests further.

 

Call for help with documentation

In line with this, we’re calling on the community to contribute to TFM’s documentation. Whether it’s through written guides or video tutorials, your expertise can greatly benefit users and enrich our resources. Contributors will enjoy the perk of free TFM releases for the duration of their involvement, as a token of our appreciation. We encourage interested candidates to submit a sample peace of documentation, covering how to operate the TFM speed or altitude boxes in the pmdg 737. This can be submitted via email at the above address, or by DM to one of the team. We will eventually require videos to be made as part of the documentation, so please do indicate if you would like to do this alongside the written documentation, as we are willing to form a small team if that turns out to be necessary. Any documentation would be simple to follow, perhaps contain thoughtful but concise bullet points, and does not need to go into inordinate detail regarding aircraft systems since such detail can be found elsewhere. You may, if you wish, use any of the tutorial information on bvipilots.net and include it in your work, given that this is custom material.

 

Closing thoughts

Lastly, our subscription and beta infrastructure remain under development. The old official release version of TFM, which was made freely available prior to the last preview cycle, will remain accessible via our website, offering a solid foundation for users whilst we prepare for the next phase. This version includes support to varying levels for the 737, 747 and 777.

 

This week symbolizes a rebirth of sorts for TFM, invigorating a project that has admittedly stagnated for various reasons in previous months.

Stay tuned for more updates. We intend to publish another detailed blog post within the next fortnight to keep you updated on the transitioning infrastructure.

Best wishes

Declan

Communications Manager, Talking Flight Monitor

Talking flight monitor moves to a closed source platform, will offer it for purchase

by

Welcome back to the blog. In this post we will describe future plans for Talking flight monitor and its move to a closed source platform. It will also move to a software as a service subscription model. There is a decent amount to cover, so let’s get started.

After careful review of the GPL3 license, along with professional consulting from a licensed attorney, we decided that the paid addon model will not work. The GPL3 license requires that any software interfacing with paid plugins that work from a proprietary license is in violation of the GPL3 license. On the other hand, any software licensed under a proprietary license accessing portions of a GPL3 licensed application must comply with the GPL3 license. This means that the paid plugins we would make requires distribution of that plugin’s source code. Since the closed source plugins would have security mechanisms to validate user licenses in place, it is a security risk to both users and Talking flight monitor. It opens the door for hackers, viruses, and other issues that compromise security. Another aspect of this decision is in Talking flight monitor’s current codebase. At this time, it would take significant rewrites to portions of the code to accommodate a paid plugin system. It also presents a security risk while in the open-source market. When closed source, it would take minimal code modification to implement a security mechanism to validate users and subscriptions.

Currently, there is no interest in Talking flight monitor’s source. During the past three years, there have been a few pull requests to add minimal functionality to Talking flight monitor. There also seems to be a lack of interest in the preview builds as offered. Compared to the official release, the preview builds are hardly used. Sure, there are some community users that make use of the preview builds, but it is minimal. As Talking flight monitor grows and expands its offering, it is starting to incur expenses that need a consistent revenue to stay alive. With the amount of research, coding time, and hours of work dedicated to Talking flight monitor, the project cannot continue unless it is compensated for its time and effort. We also have put our vested interest on the line. In its current state, anyone can take the source, modify it, and claim it as their own derivative work. With the past three years on the line, we need to protect our intellectual property.

Over the coming weeks and months, we will start to shut down the opensource aspect of Talking flight monitor. During this time, development will stop while we make the transition. Any official downloads or preview builds will still be available during the transition period. Once the transition is complete, we will modify the website to accommodate paid subscriptions, feature request forms, bug report forms, and new contact forms. Once that is complete, we will make any adjustments to comply with local and international copyright laws, licenses, and distribution requirements. Once Talking flight monitor is secure, we will remove the official build and any preview builds that are available on the website. We will then modify Talking flight monitor to validate subscriptions, then offer it for purchase. The preview builds will be available to anyone who has a paid subscription. Talking flight monitor will also offer private beta cycles for a select few that apply as a private beta tester. The terms of the beta testing program will be announced later.

Again, the move to closed source is to simplify the licensing process and compensate the developers for their time and expenses. More about the transition will be released as more details become available. We hope you have enjoyed Talking flight monitor as an open source project, and continue enjoying it as we move to closed source.