Not really a fan of the ‘our apologies you are upset’ type of apology, but they still seem to be making PR 101 mistake of trying to justify the original thinking with lots of words. Trying to apply retrospective logic isn’t the way to go usually, just briefly apologize, make amends and move on. Don’t do the ‘we are sorry you are sorry but not really sorry for what you are sorry about’ bit.
It sounds like they had info on someone setting up an illegal store and sort of blurred the line between when they should ask the authorities to help rather than try to act like the authorities themselves. The fundamental misjudgment was thinking committing a crime helps stop a crime - which is really the bit he should apologize for (not ‘we are sorry people are upset’ which is too near ‘we are sorry we got caught’).
The fact they everyone got a malware distributed to them (I don’t care it didn’t really run, I’ve seen enough broken installers to know it’s possible) now probably, and ironically(?) just weakens their case against a legitimate criminal act. What a mess.
Also, not to be too slimey-lawyer’ly but if there are any civil actions to follow from this, he’s self-incriminated a whole bunch of things. A $2 lawyer anywhere near this would have told him to zip it at this point.
I fuly agree with the opinion that they should rather invest in the improvement of paying customers experience than to call to arms against piracy.
What is one of the obvious reasons people use pirate ways and pirate bays? Because it is more convenient for them to get the digital item that way.
My example. I bought 2CD album in mp3 format and received download link only for 1CD. It took me almost 3weeks and many emails to receive the correct downlod links from the store.
At the time I received the corect links I was already listening to the albums for 2weeks! Why? I just used the pirate way and had it downloaded completely in 10mins!
Wel imho some stores should have big DONATE button on the main page with the mesage:
Get our product whatever way you like and is more convenient for you. Just be sure not forget to send us your money if you like it.
No, not a false positive at all. I am now concerned about some other third-party developer’s products which also advise that you turn off your AV.
How many hackers are out there with the knowledge that flight sim users are getting advice to turn off their Anti-virus scanners? So, this layer of defense is down, all they have to do is park in the white-list directory and go to work.
As soon as that test.exe gets onto a machine, it’s no longer just between FSLabs and the user. I mean whoever wrote the test.exe is probably doing a dance right now and thanking FSLabs for the free distribution. AND for advising the user to turn off their virus scanner!
in the reddit thread in r/flightsim the new marketing manager attempts to defend the legal threats… oh boy this is some weird string of decisions from that company!
I have no idea how they think that approach is gonna keep them in business. Just looking at the hype for their upcoming A319 vs what they had for the A320… their reputation has taken a serious hit.
Indeed, I think their product looks awesome but I could never support a company that is so hostile against the community at large and aggressive against their own customers. To me the name FSLabs will be a dont-buy label unfortunately. I can’t imagine them mending their reputation at all.
Someone at FSLabs needs to go on a business course covering the following:
First rule of business - DON’T annoy your customers.
Second rule of business - If you break rule 1 (even by accident or through circumstance / no fault of yours) IMMEDIATELY APOLOGISE and explain how you will fix the issue as soon as possible. Do everything you can think of to reassure your customers that you still deserve their trust.
Zeroth rule of business (stating the bloody obvious here) - NEVER TELL YOUR CUSTOMERS THEY ARE WRONG AND YOU ARE RIGHT!
I mean honestly, it’s like a textbook example of how not to handle a PR crisis. It’s reminiscent of how a school child handles an argument in the schoolyard.
