Free Flight Planning Software

[Dean Wilkinson]

For immediate release


Razor's Edge Software releases AirPlan Lite, a free-ware version of
the popular AirPlan flight planning software package.

Boise , ID - September 18, 2004 - Razor's Edge Software, producer of
AirPlan flight planning software, announced the release of a new
product; AirPlan Lite.

Razor's Edge Software is now offering AirPlan Lite as a freeware
flight planning software utility for the Windows operating system.
AirPlan Lite is a reduced feature set version of the popular AirPlan
flight planning software utility. It provides the core flight
planning features of the commercial version of AirPlan without many of
the more advanced features such as the GPS interface, weather radar
overlay, moving map mode, and digital sectional charts.

AirPlan Lite is currently available for download from Razor's Edge
Software at http://www.razorsedgesoft.com/airplanlite.zip AirPlan
Lite is being offered as-is with no plans for future feature
enhancements or updates. The database files provided with the
software are current as of June 2004. User's who wish to utilize
current data can update the AirPlan Lite database for $5.00 U.S at any
time by following the link found under the Help menu selection.

"We felt that we needed to respond to the trend toward free basic
flight planning services that are currently being offered via AOPA,
EAA, and DUATS. AirPlan Lite offers pilots a good flight planning
utility that they can use whether or not they have internet access
with no up-front expense. It is hoped that more pilots will discover
the value of AirPlan this way. By offering inexpensive database
updates for AirPlan Lite, there is no reason for pilots to plan with
outdated information," said Dean Wilkinson, President of Razor's Edge
Software. "At the same time that we are releasing AirPlan Lite, we
are continuing to improve the commercial version of AirPlan to make it
an increasingly better value. Version 8.0 is planned for release this
fall. Current user's of AirPlan should be impressed with the
improvements. User's of AirPlan Lite will find that the user
interface of AirPlan is quite familiar to them should they choose to
step up to the commercial version."

For more information, please visit www.razorsedgesoft.com.

[john smith]

Dean, I cannot find the system requirements on your website.

[Marco Leon]

From the install:

Recommended minimum system requirements:

Pentium II 200Mhz with 32 Megabytes of RAM

Windows 95, 98, NT 4.0, ME, Win2000, XP

VGA (640X480) or higher resolution

Color setting of High Color (16bit) or True Color (24 bit)
recommended, 256 colors will work but the terrain colors
may be incorrect. 16 Color mode is strongly discouraged.

50 Megabytes of free hard drive space for Windows swapfile use.
This is above and beyond the 16 Megabytes of file space
for Airplan.

AirplanLite will perform better on systems with faster
processors and more memory than the above minimum system.


"john smith" > wrote in message
...
> Dean, I cannot find the system requirements on your website.
>

[A Lieberman]

On 18 Sep 2004 14:44:11 -0700, Dean Wilkinson wrote:


> AirPlan Lite is currently available for download from Razor's Edge
> Software at http://www.razorsedgesoft.com/airplanlite.zip AirPlan
> Lite is being offered as-is with no plans for future feature
> enhancements or updates. The database files provided with the
> software are current as of June 2004. User's who wish to utilize
> current data can update the AirPlan Lite database for $5.00 U.S at any
> time by following the link found under the Help menu selection.

> "We felt that we needed to respond to the trend toward free basic
> flight planning services that are currently being offered via AOPA,
> EAA, and DUATS.

Ummm, maybe I am missing something???

Can you define free????

I doubt it is free when you are charging for database updates. There would
be no way I would use this software WITH OUTDATED databases.

Duats and AOPA flight planner don't charge for "updates" That to me
qualifies as free.

Doesn't sound like to me you are responding to the trend for free basic
flight planning services if you charge for database updates.

Allen

Allen

[Dean Wilkinson]

Allen,

The DUATS planner is subsidized by the government, I am not.

AOPA and EAA planners are subsidized by the membership, I am not.

Not charging a penny to download, install, and use the software for as
long as you want, that is free.

Charging a small fee for the database update service? Yes, that is
fair and the only way to guarantee that I am around to provide them...
You don't have to update if you don't want to. You don't have to use
the software if you don't want to.

Best Regards,

Dean Wilkinson
Razor's Edge Software


A Lieberman > wrote in message >...
> On 18 Sep 2004 14:44:11 -0700, Dean Wilkinson wrote:
>
>
> > AirPlan Lite is currently available for download from Razor's Edge
> > Software at http://www.razorsedgesoft.com/airplanlite.zip AirPlan
> > Lite is being offered as-is with no plans for future feature
> > enhancements or updates. The database files provided with the
> > software are current as of June 2004. User's who wish to utilize
> > current data can update the AirPlan Lite database for $5.00 U.S at any
> > time by following the link found under the Help menu selection.
>
> > "We felt that we needed to respond to the trend toward free basic
> > flight planning services that are currently being offered via AOPA,
> > EAA, and DUATS.
>
> Ummm, maybe I am missing something???
>
> Can you define free????
>
> I doubt it is free when you are charging for database updates. There would
> be no way I would use this software WITH OUTDATED databases.
>
> Duats and AOPA flight planner don't charge for "updates" That to me
> qualifies as free.
>
> Doesn't sound like to me you are responding to the trend for free basic
> flight planning services if you charge for database updates.
>
> Allen
>
> Allen

[A Lieberman]

On 19 Sep 2004 10:10:46 -0700, Dean Wilkinson wrote:

Dean,

> The DUATS planner is subsidized by the government, I am not.
>
> AOPA and EAA planners are subsidized by the membership, I am not.

No problem with what you say here.

> Not charging a penny to download, install, and use the software for as
> long as you want, that is free.

Still no problem EXCEPT, what good is outdated software?

> Charging a small fee for the database update service? Yes, that is
> fair and the only way to guarantee that I am around to provide them...
> You don't have to update if you don't want to.

Charging a fee no longer makes it free.

Yes it is fair to charge for updates, but to advertise it's free is very
misleading and unscrupulous

I'd suspect you wouldn't fly with outdated software yourself and to
encourage your users to use your software with outdated databases is a
disservice to your company.

I am copying from your original post below for further emphasis:

>>> "We felt that we needed to respond to the trend toward free basic
>>> flight planning services that are currently being offered via AOPA,
>>> EAA, and DUATS.

You are not responding to the trend toward free basic flight planning
software when you are charging for updates.

The difference again, being an AOPA member, the software and updates are a
benefit of a member. My membership fee did not go up as a result of the
flight planner.

What you are doing is charging for the updates, which invalidates the
"free" part of what you said above.

Yes, I have choices of what flight planning software I will use.

Just as an FYI, I do use AOPA flight planner at home, and when I am away, I
use DUATS or pick up the ole telephone and call FSS. I have tried the
CIRRUS program (now a new program, forget the name), but that required a
lot more computer horsepower then my 500 mhz pentium. I am the first in
line to try different things to ease the burden of flight planning, but one
thing I won't do is knowingly use outdated software for something as
critical as flight planning.

Using outdated flight planning software would be just as bad as flying with
outdated charts. It would make for a bad day to find out while in the
crag, there was a tower built after your outdated chart was printed.

Since DUATS is from what I know the only official internet briefing source
(AOPA interfaces with DUATS), I make the assumption your software does
not??? I have not downloaded it, due to the outdated database.

Bottom line, what you are offering is not free, and should not be
advertised as such.

Allen

[Mike O'Malley]

OK, I guess I'll be the first one to say "thanks"!

From what I've seen so far, just playing with it, the terrain data puts it
far above AOPA's planner, and the ability to use it without needing an
internet connection is wonderful for those of us that might take our laptops
on the road.

I don't know if I'll ever use it for more than a quick overview flight
planning; as most long flights I go IFR anyway, but thank-you for making
this resource available.

[John T]

Dean Wilkinson wrote:
>
> The DUATS planner is subsidized by the government, I am not.
>
> AOPA and EAA planners are subsidized by the membership, I am not.
>
> Not charging a penny to download, install, and use the software for as
> long as you want, that is free.

All valid points.

> Charging a small fee for the database update service? Yes, that is
> fair and the only way to guarantee that I am around to provide them...

....and also makes the "free" product no longer free. The value of your
light edition is greatly diminished with outdated databases and your
charging a fee to update them makes your claim of "free" rather
disingenuous.

Nobody's begrudging your covering expenses or even making a profit. The
problem arises when you make the claim of "free" then tell us that we have
to pay to get current data. That's like the TV ads that claim the product
is "FREE!!" - all we have to pay is a "nominal shipping & handling fee".

--
John T
http://tknowlogy.com/TknoFlyer
http://www.pocketgear.com/products_search.asp?developerid=4415
____________________

[A Lieberman]

On Sun, 19 Sep 2004 23:14:49 -0400, John T wrote:

> Nobody's begrudging your covering expenses or even making a profit. The
> problem arises when you make the claim of "free" then tell us that we have
> to pay to get current data. That's like the TV ads that claim the product
> is "FREE!!" - all we have to pay is a "nominal shipping & handling fee".

Thanks John for seeing it my way.

Had Dean said trialware, shareware or "otherware", I wouldn't have even
responded to his post.

What got in my crawl was the word free, followed by a cost of $5.00. Cost
and free didn't compute.

I bring up his quote again from the original post.

>>> "We felt that we needed to respond to the trend toward free basic
>>> flight planning services that are currently being offered via AOPA,
>>> EAA, and DUATS.

Using Dean's words, "respond to the trend toward free basic flight planning
services" sure contradicts charging for his flight planning services.

In one sentence he says AOPA has free basic flight planning software, yet
when I called him out on the carpet, all of a suddenly, the flight planner
is "subsidized". Yes, he is correct, it is subsidized by taxes and
membership fees, but that is not said in the meat of his post. He said
"free basic flight planning services" (see above quote).

I have absolutely no beef about Dean wanting to make a profit, that is the
nature of his business, but soliciting business through newsgroups surely
is not good newsgroup netiquette. (UCE).

Signature or tag line should be sufficient with him making positive
contributions would be the way to go. Instead he, sorry to say spammed all
the aviation newsgroups that I had subscribed to.

Allen

[Peter R.]

John T wrote:

> Nobody's begrudging your covering expenses or even making a profit. The
> problem arises when you make the claim of "free" then tell us that we have
> to pay to get current data. That's like the TV ads that claim the product
> is "FREE!!" - all we have to pay is a "nominal shipping & handling fee".

The Gillette business model: Give away the handle and charge a premium
for the razor blades. Of course, they don't give away the handle any
more...

--
Peter

[Jim Carter]

Thanks Mike,
for quickly reviewing the product instead of critiquing an unfortunate
choice of word in the original post.

--
Jim Carter

[[email protected]]

I'll chip in a good word for the program as well. It is easier, more
intuitive to use than most, and for my current simple needs it works great.

That said, how do I make the private airports show up on the map. They are in
the data base, because I can find them in the search engine, but I don't see
how to display them on the map.

thanks,
tom pettit

[Dean Wilkinson]

Tom,

Look under the Preferences Menu and you'll find a selection labeled
Hide Private Airports. Uncheck this and they will show on the map.

Best Regards,

Dean Wilkinson
Razor's Edge Software

wrote in message >...
> I'll chip in a good word for the program as well. It is easier, more
> intuitive to use than most, and for my current simple needs it works great.
>
> That said, how do I make the private airports show up on the map. They are in
> the data base, because I can find them in the search engine, but I don't see
> how to display them on the map.
>
> thanks,
> tom pettit

[Paul Sengupta]

"A Lieberman" > wrote in message
...
> Can you define free????
>
> I doubt it is free when you are charging for database updates.

How about if he advertised it as "Low cost flight planning software"?

Paul

[G.R. Patterson III]

A Lieberman wrote:
>
> > Charging a small fee for the database update service? Yes, that is
> > fair and the only way to guarantee that I am around to provide them...
> > You don't have to update if you don't want to.
>
> Charging a fee no longer makes it free.

He advertised free flight planning software. It's very obviously free. As far as the
updates are concerned, nobody offers free updates. I have to pay AOPA and EAA dues,
and I have to pay taxes to the Feds -- that's what buys my updates there.

George Patterson
If a man gets into a fight 3,000 miles away from home, he *had* to have
been looking for it.

[Roger]

A Lieberman > wrote in message >...
> On 19 Sep 2004 10:10:46 -0700, Dean Wilkinson wrote:
>
> Dean,
>
> > The DUATS planner is subsidized by the government, I am not.
> >
> > AOPA and EAA planners are subsidized by the membership, I am not.
>
> No problem with what you say here.
>
> > Not charging a penny to download, install, and use the software for as
> > long as you want, that is free.
>
> Still no problem EXCEPT, what good is outdated software?
>
> > Charging a small fee for the database update service? Yes, that is
> > fair and the only way to guarantee that I am around to provide them...
> > You don't have to update if you don't want to.
>
> Charging a fee no longer makes it free.
>
> Yes it is fair to charge for updates, but to advertise it's free is very
> misleading and unscrupulous
>
> I'd suspect you wouldn't fly with outdated software yourself and to
> encourage your users to use your software with outdated databases is a
> disservice to your company.
>
> I am copying from your original post below for further emphasis:
>
> >>> "We felt that we needed to respond to the trend toward free basic
> >>> flight planning services that are currently being offered via AOPA,
> >>> EAA, and DUATS.
>
> You are not responding to the trend toward free basic flight planning
> software when you are charging for updates.
>
> The difference again, being an AOPA member, the software and updates are a
> benefit of a member. My membership fee did not go up as a result of the
> flight planner.
>
> What you are doing is charging for the updates, which invalidates the
> "free" part of what you said above.
>
> Yes, I have choices of what flight planning software I will use.
>
> Just as an FYI, I do use AOPA flight planner at home, and when I am away, I
> use DUATS or pick up the ole telephone and call FSS. I have tried the
> CIRRUS program (now a new program, forget the name), but that required a
> lot more computer horsepower then my 500 mhz pentium. I am the first in
> line to try different things to ease the burden of flight planning, but one
> thing I won't do is knowingly use outdated software for something as
> critical as flight planning.
>
> Using outdated flight planning software would be just as bad as flying with
> outdated charts. It would make for a bad day to find out while in the
> crag, there was a tower built after your outdated chart was printed.
>
> Since DUATS is from what I know the only official internet briefing source
> (AOPA interfaces with DUATS), I make the assumption your software does
> not??? I have not downloaded it, due to the outdated database.
>
> Bottom line, what you are offering is not free, and should not be
> advertised as such.
>
> Allen

Allen,

Give Dean a break. He clearly is up front what he is offering for Free
and data upadates are $5.00. There is not confusion. If you don't want
to use his product don't bitch about it.

Roger

[Dean Wilkinson]

Paul,

Yeah, I guess I should have worded it that way to avoid being jumped
on by self-proclaimed newsgroup police officers. Do you suppose
Lieberman has a badge, hat, whistle and a gun? I.P. must stand for
Internet Police, and here I always thought it stood for Internet
Provider... ;)

Then again, maybe he's just sore that he and Mr. Gore lost the last
election...

Dean

"Paul Sengupta" > wrote in message >...
> "A Lieberman" > wrote in message
> ...
> > Can you define free????
> >
> > I doubt it is free when you are charging for database updates.
>
> How about if he advertised it as "Low cost flight planning software"?
>
> Paul

[Paul Sengupta]

Internet Protocol?

"Dean Wilkinson" > wrote in message
m...
> I.P. must stand for
> Internet Police, and here I always thought it stood for Internet
> Provider... ;)

[Dean Wilkinson]

Hi Mike,

I hope that you are enjoying AirPlanLite.

From 9/18/2004 to 9/22/2004 there were 241 copies downloaded.

I sent my press release (which didn't include a title of "Free Flight
Planning Software" that was objected to here at RAH) to the AOPA, EAA,
Aero-News.net, Avweb, Flying Magazine, Landings.com, and Aviation
Consumer. So far none of them have mentioned it. I'm not surprised
since most of them have a vested interest in keeping my product out of
the public eye since it doesn't generate advertising revenue for them,
and competes with companies that do advertise with them. I'm not in a
position to spend the mega-bucks it takes to advertise in magazines,
especially since the revenue from AirPlan has been quite modest over
the past 6 years. Putting my family's finances at risk by going into
heavy debt in hopes of selling more product just isn't in the cards.
I still haven't broken-even on my booth at Oshkosh.

The reason I wrote AirPlan in the first place was because I wanted a
decent flight planner and didn't want to fork out $200 or so to buy
one for my occasional cross-country flights along with a $100 annual
update fee, and Cirrus and DUATs just weren't satisfactory. My wife
has been very patient and tolerant of my many evenings and weekends
spent working away on my home PC since I started work on it in late
1997. I still have a day job as an electrical engineer which is what
really pays my bills.

The old saying about the only way to make a small fortune in aviation
is to start with a large one appears to be true...

Best Regards,

Dean Wilkinson
Razor's Edge Software


"Mike O'Malley" > wrote in message >...
> OK, I guess I'll be the first one to say "thanks"!
>
> From what I've seen so far, just playing with it, the terrain data puts it
> far above AOPA's planner, and the ability to use it without needing an
> internet connection is wonderful for those of us that might take our laptops
> on the road.
>
> I don't know if I'll ever use it for more than a quick overview flight
> planning; as most long flights I go IFR anyway, but thank-you for making
> this resource available.

[Larry Dighera]

On 23 Sep 2004 23:18:05 -0700, (Dean
Wilkinson) wrote in >::

>I sent my press release (which didn't include a title of "Free Flight
>Planning Software" that was objected to here at RAH) to the AOPA, EAA,
>Aero-News.net, Avweb, Flying Magazine, Landings.com, and Aviation
>Consumer. So far none of them have mentioned it.

Did you specifically address your press release to the New Products
Departments? I've had good success in the past getting advertising
exposure through that route.

[Dean Wilkinson]

Hi Larry,

I believe that I have, but its possible that I didn't reach the best
person in each case...

I'll try some patience and see if anyone picks up my press release.

Best Regards,

Dean Wilkinson
Razor's Edge Software


Larry Dighera > wrote in message >...
> On 23 Sep 2004 23:18:05 -0700, (Dean
> Wilkinson) wrote in >::
>
> >I sent my press release (which didn't include a title of "Free Flight
> >Planning Software" that was objected to here at RAH) to the AOPA, EAA,
> >Aero-News.net, Avweb, Flying Magazine, Landings.com, and Aviation
> >Consumer. So far none of them have mentioned it.
>
> Did you specifically address your press release to the New Products
> Departments? I've had good success in the past getting advertising
> exposure through that route.