Now don't get me wrong kiddies – the King was not a bad King. In fact – he had pretty much started it all way back in earlier times. Truth be told your old Uncle Bill considers himself a loyal subject of the King.

But over the years the King appeared to have grown complacent and set in his ways and some might even say he took his subjects for granted. He never participated in the forums or conversed with his subjects or appeared to consider their views in any serious way except in carefully scripted settings. So while you wouldn't exactly say revolution was in the air it was fairly obvious throughout the land that some subjects were willing to consider a new regime—and to think the King's own behavior had laid the foundations for this thinking!

And so it was that one day not so long ago a new little flight sim appeared at the base of the mountain. He "flew" in you might say. The new little flight sim looked up at the mountain top and said "I think I can."

Upon hearing this the King roared with laughter – and so did many of his devoted subjects. After all – many had tried and many had failed.

And not only that – but the little flight sim had a lot of obvious problems—he appeared with lots of bugs and documentation that wasn't so good–on the other hand his panels were pretty spiffy – in fact they put the King and most of his follower's panels to shame. But that by itself wouldn't do it.

With this less than cool start everyone in Flight Sim Land would have understood if the little flight sim had looked up at the high mountain and quietly gone away like the others. After all – it was a very high mountain to climb.

But the little flight sim was not discouraged by the laughter or the problems. In fact the little flight sim immediately began to climb the mountain.

The steps he took on the steep path were different than the ones the King had used to reach the top. The little flight sim's head honchos appeared on the forums and engaged in real communications with rank and file simmers. Something the King never did. The little flight sim's developers worked night and day to fix bugs and put out patches – and – wonder of wonders – they let everyone know what they were doing at every step of the way. This is something which Uncle Bill used to call "Open Kimono" in his Navy days. Now wait a minute kids – please don't ask Uncle Bill to explain what he was doing opening a kimono or what he saw there. That's a tale for when you're a little older. Anyway – telling people exactly what was going on day by day regarding fixes and bugs was certainly something else the King never did.

And most amazing of all – the little flight sim had some of the magic. Yes, that's right – the MAGIC!!! He made possible and encouraged third party add-ons. Whatever else happened on the little flight sim's path upward one thing looked certain – the King's hold on the magic was broken.

Now the little flight sim made slow progress at first. But whatever else you could say about the progress one thing was certain – it was steady. Many of the King's subjects pretended not to notice but pretty soon more and more had begun to see – the little flight sim wasn't backing off ! It was climbing the mountain! Holy smoke!

And as he climbed the little flight sim's pace became noticeably faster—there were more add-on panels, and more add-on aircraft—and the latest add-on aircraft had visual quality beginning to approach the King's own – and golly kids – there was a really big step up the mountainside when commercial third party developers previously loyal to the King began to support the little flight sim's progress. That even surprised Uncle Bill – and when you get to be Uncle Bill's age you figure you've seen it all!

Now I know you're all wondering "What will the King do?" Well as far as Uncle Bill can see the King isn't too concerned by the little flight sim's progress. He seems content to sit on the mountain top and gaze serenely over the land. Certainly you would never expect him to communicate with his subjects about what he might do in the future that would return unwavering loyalty to him. On no! Kings don't have to change their ways – or do they kiddies?

The last time I saw the little flight sim he was a pretty good way up the mountain—and as he looked at the top I heard him say "I think I can." And you know what kids? I can't be sure but I'd swear I heard an echo from a whole bunch of simmers down in the valley – and the echo said – "I think he can!!!!"

© 2000 - AVSIM Online
All Rights Reserved