Hi all,

I have to agree on the legal position - for the boxed product, the contract you have is not with Captain Sim (in fact I don't think the publisher Just Flight has a legal obligation to you either); you do have a contract with the retailer.

Having said that, in the last 30 years of computer use, I don't think I've ever come across a situation quite like this and I'm very disappointed in both Just Flight and Captain Sim.  I've just returned to Flight Sim after many years where I've simply been too busy with work and family.  I decided to get some add-ons this time (in the past I've only used the default and freeware aircraft), and I tend to like a boxed product (and manual); maybe I'm just old fashioned.

I've never bought a piece of software either games or productivity where the updates (if any) are not freely offered (except for a clear change in version whereby the product is marketed as version 2.0, 3.0).  This doesn't even parallel corporate software purchasing (where you invariably do pay for an ongoing support contract) - in such a case, where the original vendor/publisher is unable to support the product any longer, the developer would ordinarily be thrilled to continue support (for a fee), but that isn't even possible here (without buying the same thing a second time).

Based on this experience, I didn't think to check whether a boxed product would be supported or not (I bought from Amazon, so I didn't see the statement on the Just Flight site saying that they only went up to version 4.4 until I went looking for updates), nor had I read Captain Sim's reasons for not supporting boxed products until after the purchase.  I know many will say here that I should have checked - I would have had there been any indication that there were different products.

So now I have bought two Captain Sim products and feel let down by both companies another company & CS (I got 757 and 727 Captain).  Obviously I know now that the only way to buy Captain Sim stuff is direct, but with the bad taste this has left in my mouth, I'm not sure I would be willing to buy either company's products in the future.

Sorry for the rant, will stop now and rant no more! :)