New license model and options

With release of SPAD.neXt 0.9.5 the licensing options and model will be changed, but before getting into the details, let me explain why a change in license model is necessary.

I never expected SPAD.neXt to attract more than a handful of people, as it was mainly designed to suit my own needs, and it is generally a good thing that so many flight simmers think I created something useful — but this also has a drawback.

In the past 12 months, since public release of SPAD.neXt, the amount of time that needs to be spent to keep SPAD.neXt up to date and providing the best possible support to you has been constantly growing. And there are still many things that have been neglected, e.g. documentation and the website.

SPAD.neXt is a one-man-show, and up to now everything is done as a double challenge to my 8-10-hour full-time job, resulting in up to another 8 hours a day spent on SPAD.neXt. I did this for a while, but have reached a point now where it's time to make a decision about the future of SPAD.neXt. In its present state it seriously influences my health, my family and my job, and I can feel myself losing motivation because of this.

This way I reached a point where I had to decide either to quit development of SPAD.neXt, or to find a sustainable pricing model to continue development.

While a lot of options have been evaluated over the last weeks (e.g. crowdfunding, donations, venture capital), I have decided to give the product itself a chance to evolve into my main job.

To support this, and to give everyone the opportunity to choose the option that suits them best, SPAD.neXt has been split up into editions.

Starting with the release of SPAD.neXt 0.9.5 (November 26th 2016) there will be 4 editions available:

For home use only: the FSX/P3D Edition (FSX, FSX: Steam Edition, P3D v2.5 and P3D v3), the X-Plane Edition (X-Plane 10 / X-Plane 11), and the Complete Edition — completely everything (see below for details).

For commercial use: the Professional Edition.

All SPAD.neXt licenses purchased before November 24th 2016 will automatically be converted into an FSX/P3D Edition license when updating — there is no need to buy a new license. If you wish to switch to the X-Plane edition, you can do so by opening a support ticket.

All SPAD.neXt licenses purchased before November 24th 2016 will get the opportunity to upgrade to the "Complete" Edition for a special price (25% discount).

As you have probably noticed, there will be a commercial edition now. If you currently use SPAD.neXt in any commercial form, you will either have to update to the commercial edition or stay with version 0.9.4.200.

The SPAD.neXt Complete Edition will include: all addons available now or in future with a price below €40 (without VAT); exclusive special deals and features (e.g. customizable FIP splashscreens); early access to new features; and priority support via ticket system/email.

You can see this as an investment into the future of SPAD.neXt.

The Professional Edition of SPAD.neXt will be needed if you use SPAD.neXt commercially (e.g. running a rentable simulator).

It includes everything in the Complete Edition, plus: a remote control tool to fully remotely control SPAD.neXt and simulate hardware failures (e.g. the radio panel showing the wrong number, knobs not working, gear light malfunction, etc.); telephone/remote/on-site support at special rates; dedicated technical support to craft aircraft profiles; and support for certified hardware.

In addition to the base editions, add-ons can be licensed to extend the functionality of SPAD.neXt. A base edition license is needed to activate an add-on license.

Currently planned or available: X-Plane (as an add-on to the FSX/P3D edition); FSX/P3D (as an add-on to the X-Plane edition); vFIP — virtual FIP to place gauges freely on your monitor or touchscreen, including apps for iOS, Android and Windows Phone as soon as ready; Q400 Training — support for the Majestic Dash-8 Q400 Training edition, also speeding up readout times for the Q400 Pro edition; and Driving — support for iRacing and SCS (Euro Truck Simulator 2, American Truck Simulator).

And for special interest: Gauge Designer — built-in tools to design and craft gauges without editing XML files.

Due to the immense amount of time that has to be spent on updates and new features, all licenses will come as a lifetime-use license with one year of free updates. This model was chosen because I do not want to hold back any new general features or functionality.

All licenses purchased before the release of SPAD.neXt 0.9.5 will receive one year of free updates starting from the date of updating the license. All licenses purchased after the release of SPAD.neXt 0.9.5 will receive one year of free updates starting from the date of activating the license.

Will new flight simulations released soon be part of your license? As very little is known yet about Prepar3D v4 and the new Dovetail simulation, this cannot be guaranteed as of today — it directly depends on the time/development needed to support those new sims, though it's expected they'll be SimConnect compatible. They will be included in the Complete and Professional licenses, of course. For the FSX/P3D edition license, a newsletter will be sent as soon as details are known.

If you already own a license of SPAD.neXt, nothing changes for you, apart from needing to renew the update subscription once it expires — remember, you receive one year of free updates.

There will no longer be a "free" version of SPAD.neXt, but the evaluation/trial period will be extended to 14 days. If you are currently using the free version, a trial key will automatically be applied. After the evaluation period is over, a valid license is required.

If you own more than one SPAD.neXt license: upgrading one of them will upgrade them all (open a ticket to upgrade the additional licenses), and one update subscription will be valid for all your licenses.

The update subscription fee is not yet determined, but it will be well less than the license fee. It will be announced at the latest before the first update subscriptions run out (November 2017).