Seattle Avionics

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Revkurt

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Revkurt
Seattle Avionics just announced that their “life time” subscription for FlyQ is essentially coming to an end in a year, the way I read it. Thoughts?
 
Well, imagine you get bought out by a profit-only sort of thinking company - and there is no ethical or moral sense stopping them from making a fast buck . . . Honestly, once you have paid for the software, it's pennies to add your name to a list of updated owners and get the chart updates. Its so little to keep people on. I understand they are going to be giving them a legacy edition of the software, how ever that works. Sounds like the ultimate bait and switch.

Anyone who buys a "lifetime anything" in this world of corporate take overs and shutting down companies is a little bit daft. All it takes is mismanagement, a corporate raider or simply a death of the founder and that's all folks. . .
 
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Most ‘lifetime’ subcriptions & memberships come with a set of T&Cs that stipulate lifetime is defined, conditional, and revocable. One reason I’ve never gone for one.
 
  1. In 30 days, Lifetime customers who do not move to a new annual subscription can download a forthcoming new FlyQ EFB Legacy 6.9.1 and use it for a year, after which it will be sunset. As the version number implies, FlyQ EFB Legacy is the same as FlyQ EFB 6.9.1 released in May 2024 and does not include the features or fixes in FlyQ+ EFB 7.0.
I read this to mean you can use the legacy version for a year then no more chart or software updates. Some software with server validation you can’t even log in to use outdated software or data. I won’t be around to find out…
 
www.avweb.com

Seattle Avionics Ends Lifetime Subscription Memberships For FlyQ EFB

In an email to its members, Seattle Avionics, the company behind the FlyQ electronic flight bag app, announced it would be canceling all lifetime subscriptions to the software. The company...
www.avweb.com www.avweb.com

You bought a lifetime subscription? So sorry, we didn’t really mean it.
 
currently a lifetime subscriber. It will be interesting to see how many flee with the change

If I remember correctly, the FTC came down on ATT for changing terms on unlimited data plans. I need to review the t&c but I think a complaint to the FTC is coming.
 
There is a discussion "Seattle Avionics" . . . but yeah. . .
 
Sounds like grounds for a class action suit.
 
Lifetime Just ask the American indian, Treaties will last "as long as the sun shines, the grass grows and the river flows" sometimes the grass stops growing and the river dries up.
 
Sadly, SA is not the first company to do this. This kind of lack of integrity really bothers me. Going out of business is one thing, but simply choosing to not honor ones commitments is another all together. It seems to be relatively common in the software industry which reflects poorly on that industry and is a sad state of affairs.
 
Palmpilot said:
Class action suit?
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An acquaintance who is in the FlyQ user group on Facebook mentioned that possibility to me. Apparently a pretty angry bunch there.

There is an interesting legal issue there - what is the meaning of lifetime in the software world? Lifetime of the user or lifetime of the product? It usually comes up in the SAAS world and I haven't really kept up with current developments in that field since leaving my inhouse position.
 
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They were also selling lifetime updates for various EFIS if I recall.
 
lmars said:
Well now it's time for me to look at Foreflight.
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A full subscription to foreflight for one year costs about as much as the lifetime did. Granted few need the features of the full edition.

399 for 10 years is 40 bucks a year (just the example I saw of the guy complaining that bought in 2014). That won’t pay for foreflight.

That said, it is hard to understand how they could think this would work out for them.
 
flyingron said:
One of my employees offered a customer a lifetime guarantee on a modem. He said if it fails, he'd come over and shoot the customer.
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Uh huh. I understand SA is offering lifetime subscribers a choice of firing squad, electric chair, gas chamber, or 24 hours listening to Yoko Ono singing Achy Breaky Heart.
 
FORANE said:
Sadly, SA is not the first company to do this. This kind of lack of integrity really bothers me. Going out of business is one thing, but simply choosing to not honor ones commitments is another all together. It seems to be relatively common in the software industry which reflects poorly on that industry and is a sad state of affairs.
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Agreed. I hope people will have enough sense not to do further business with SA. This sort of behavior should not be encouraged.
 
How dumb is it to announce it the week of Oshkosh when thousands of pilots are gathered and you have forums!
 
Half Fast said:
Simply return the unused portion of their product and they’ll return the unused portion of your money.
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I would absolutely do that. My version says IFR subscription Expires Dec 18 2097 and VFR expires Sep 10 2098. I bought this is Nov 27 2015 for $429.99. If we just pro rate it to 2015 thru 2097...thats $5.24/yr. They owe me for 73 years...so $382.52. I would be fine with that.

Does anyone know what bail is in Oshkosh for beating the **** out of a thief? I am thinking of driving over to Osh...
 
skyking3286 said:
How dumb is it to announce it the week of Oshkosh when thousands of pilots are gathered and you have forums!
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but probably better than the week after OSH.
 
Hey, Tesla stole 12,000 from me for full self drive, so I can relate.
 
skyking3286 said:
How dumb is it to announce it the week of Oshkosh when thousands of pilots are gathered and you have forums!
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If there's a crowd of pilots holding signs outside their forums and their booth, be sure to take a few pics.
 
When Seattle Avionics was acquired by AFV here is what they had to say.

Noting that GA is Seattle Avionics’ core area of expertise, Podradchik assured FlyQ’s lifetime subscribers that they would “continue to enjoy great value from the ongoing use of our current products.”

That was September 2020.
 
Racerx said:
When Seattle Avionics was acquired by AFV here is what they had to say.

Noting that GA is Seattle Avionics’ core area of expertise, Podradchik assured FlyQ’s lifetime subscribers that they would “continue to enjoy great value from the ongoing use of our current products.”

That was September 2020.
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And they did continue to enjoy it….for another 4 years. ;-)
 
This is so disappointing.

I was a FlyQ user for several years, but never purchased a lifetime subscription. Just this year I switched to FF, for a couple of features I thought I would use, but don't really. I overall do not like FF as well as FlyQ, and planned to go back to FlyQ after my FF year ran out.

Hesitant to do so now.
 
It definitely seems that pi$$ing off a significant portion of the existing user base is not the most brilliant marketing strategy. But I wonder…

Anyone have any idea the relative percentages of FlyQ users who subscribe annually vs those who bought the “lifetime” package?
 
Half Fast said:
Agreed. I hope people will have enough sense not to do further business with SA. This sort of behavior should not be encouraged.
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I hope pilots are a more disciplined group than gamers because EA and Ubisoft have been doing this kind of crap for years, yet still make money hand-over-fist.
 
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