Purchase Method
ZurichX is distributed as a Try-Before-Buy product. You will freely download a Demo version, that will run for a few minutes at time (the timer restarts if you exit and enter Flight Simulator), and the Demo can be unlocked by purchasing the product, directly inside Flight Simulator. The purchasing method is based on the worldwide market leader Esellerate/Digital River, that supplies the infrastructure for secure connections, Credit Card handling, and bandwidth.

Payment method
It's possible to buy using a Credit Card, compatibile with VISA, Master Card, American Express or JCB circuits, using the integrated buying routine inside Flight Simulator. There's also an alternate buying procedure available that uses a web browser, that allows for PayPal payments as well.

Why this buying method is better for the customer
There are several advantages why this purchasing system is much better for the user. Some of these are:

• The user can freely evaluate the product before purchasing, on his own system.
• The Demo can be downloaded in full privacy, there's no registration required to download the Demo.
• There's no need to wait for activation codes via email, the product will be fully active a few seconds after purchase.
• There's no risk paying for the product and not being able to use it, because activation emails didn't work.
• The Demo doesn't have an expiration date. It's possible to use it for an unlimited number of times, just not more than a few minutes each time. This way, it's possible to evaluate the product by making tweaks on the system, upgrades, at everyone's pace.
  

Product Activation
In order to make the Demo version possible, the product uses an activation system. However, it has been configured on the commerce server in a way that should allow freedom to change/upgrade hardware and suit most of the user's needs.

It's true I'm not free to change hardware by using this purchasing system?
Absolutely not. It's important to understand that the sales system itself doesn't have any knowledge of the publisher's licence terms. Every publisher that uses this system will choose his own license terms independently so, the freedom to change hardware (or the lack of it) varies depending on the publisher. We chose to offer a very liberal licensing policy regarding activations: there are 6 activations available per order, coupled with auto-reclaim every 90 days. This means, in general, that you can change your hardware up to 6 times in a 90 days period, without running into activation issues.

I'm having trouble understanding the 90 days auto-reclaim of activation, can you make an example?
Suppose you buy the product the 1st of January.

• During the purchase, you consume your 1st activation, meaning you still have 5 left.
• After 2 weeks you decide to upgrade your CPU, the hardware change is detected but, since you still have 4 activations left, there are no problems, the product will simply reactivate on the new hardware configuration.
• After a month, you buy a shiny new laptop and want to try the product on it. No problem, you install it, activate it, and still have 3 activations left.
• A virus strikes hard your main machine and have to reformat and reinstall everything. Since you haven't changed your hardware, the activation check will pass, with still 3 activations left
• In April (90 days are now passed), there's a brand new CPU coming from Intel, that will requires you change everything, building a new PC. You install the product on this new machine, and the first activation you had will be reclaimed, meaning you still have 3 activations left
• Next week, you change the mainboard on the new machine, because you got a faulty one from your dealer, you now have 2 activations left.
• Next week, you decide to rebuild your old machine and use it again for network multiplayer, you now have 1 activation left.
• Next week, you upgrade the CPU and graphic card on your old machine, you now have 0 activations left.
• Next week, you upgrade the CPU on the new machine, activation will fail, so you will finally have to email support asking for a reactivation.

As you can see, it's really difficult having issues with activation, with 6 activations and the 90 days auto-reclaim period at your disposal. And, if you really fall into the issue, there's always the reactivation by email option. In all other cases, everything is handled automatically without user intervention.

Do I need to be constantly connected to the Internet to check for activation?
Absolutely not. The connection is needed only when you buy the product, or only when an hardware change is detected, so the product needs to verify on the server how many activation you have left. During normal use, the connection is not required.

What are the other function of the Addon Manager? Could the scenery be programmed in order not to use it?
The Addon Manager has a lot of useful functions, other than managing the Demo and the Selling system. The scenery is programmed to take advantage of it, and couldn't run without it. Some of the Addon Manager's functions are:

• Automatic detection of the user's airplane type and front gear position recognition. This is used by the safegates, to properly adjust settings depending on airplane, without having the user to unrealistically dial COM frequencies in order to configure the gates for correct airplane type.
• Objects appearing on conditions like time and season, allowing for special effects like seasonal trees, ice blocks on the airport, seasonal vehicles.
• Frame rate optimizations (especially in FSX), allowing to cut object appearance when not needed, and reinstating several conditions that are not longer possible with FSX scenery SDK.
• Custom ground AI objects (FSX only), allowing for good looking customized ground vehicles with proper motion and behavior on ground
• Easy tweak of several performance parameters (FSX only). This is a free feature, that can be used for any scenery, even without buying any product, the FSX tweaks will always be available.