I have been wondering this for some while now1)Where is avsim ,is it in a office somewhere?2)how big are the computers to hold all these files?3)how many hours do you have to work?4)Where do you get all your money for expensive company jets?5)how long has there been a avsim?6)who owns Avsim ?7)Should I have looked somewhere to find all the anwsers?As I spend So much time here I thought it is strange how i know not much about all these things :)Anniette xxxxxxxx

Anniette, answers follow:[ol][li] We are around the world. Our servers are located just outside of Washington D.C., but our staff of 40+ cover the globe.[li]We have three servers; two are multiprocessor driven and all multiple disk, raid capable.[li]Collectively we put in hundreds of man hours a month.[li]What company jets? Did I miss a corporate benefit of ours somewhere along the way? :)[li]In February, we'll celebrate our sixth anniversay.[li]AVSIM is a closely held corporation and ownership is distributed among our senior staff. Other than all the friendly email we get daily, that's about the only other benefit to being in this group... :-lol[li]You could have looked elsewhere, but here is as good a place as any.[/ol]And now you and the entire world know. :)

Thank you for the anwsers Tom :)So you do not all meet in a office then you are all at diferant places I guess That is be nice not Having to travel to work each day!I think you have a great staff and it is through their eficietcy that makes me wonder how it all works , Emails are anwsered almost as soon as they are sent and files are in the library as soon as they are posted it is amazing :)Anniette xxxxx

Careful Anniette, you are bringing up a touchy subject.. that is "and files are in the library as soon as they are posted".. I am usually in trouble with the library managers for sticking my nose in and doing their job. They do a great one... But I just can't stand to see files wait in the "uploads" directory, awaiting approval. Problem is, I tend to mess the system up. :)

Great questions, great answers. I haven't wondered about it, but it is nice to know the facts.

That's the problem with these "Around the Globe Corporations"You can't find the personnel office to fill out an application. ;)Cheers!Heather

Tom, OK the way see it is, we already know you can crash an airplane. Now you admit to crashing the servers. Hmmmm....disturbing trend here. :-) LOLMike Stone

HII have been wondering that too & now I know!!! Very interesting concept this global manning of Office! :)You guys are doing a fantastic job and we all appreciate it.

with virtual companies is that we cannot find the HR department to get our paychecks from..... !!! :-eek :-roll :-outta Francois :-wave_______________________Francois A. "Navman" DumasAssociate Editor &Forums AdministratorAVSIM Online!email: [email protected]________________________

There was a rather good editorial on this in March which is also probably worth looking at. ;)Regards,--M

Very much so.AVSIM (despite how it may appears) is none of our "primary jobs" -- ok, we have a couple of retired folks on staff, but the majority of us are earning our money through gainful employment elsewhere. ;-) Right now I'm answering this having just arrived at my physical workplace in London before starting "work" this morning. :)We are very much all in different places, too. There's a pretty large staff enclave in Virginia, USA, but other than that they're spread far and wide: Nevada, California, the UK, Slovenia, Canada, the Netherlands, Belgium to name but a few!Basically, we do it for the fun, and the teamwork we have amongst our staff groups is phenomenal. That's probably our secret for how it looks like we're all in the same place, and just plain why AVSIM works so well. ;)Regards "who owns AVSIM": the Board of Directors plus a couple other senior staff members hold "penny shares" (effectively worthless as far as monetary value is concerned) in AVSIM, which is a registered corporation in the USA. So, no, we aren't the pawns of some huge company; we very much own our own destinies. ;)Regards,--M

Hy!Thanks! A very interesting article. It

That was a great article exept it took me about a week to read it lolAnd it anwsers all my other questions .I think it is important to know these things so we can truly apreciate in a modern socieoty where things is not very often Given to you that while there are people prepared to do things for Love not Money there is always hope for humans :)My Respect for you people has multyply a million times and all the Freeware developers Who Make things for others are Fantastique Anniette xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Matt,>Regards "who owns AVSIM": the Board of Directors plus a >couple other senior staff members hold "penny shares" >(effectively worthless as far as monetary value is >concerned) in AVSIM, which is a registered corporation in >the USA. So, no, we aren't the pawns of some huge company; >we very much own our own destinies. ;) 1 penny? That means AVSIM is worth more than Enron, Worldcom, and US Air combined. :-lol(We know you're all worth more anyway)

:-lol :-lol Francois is right, Heather; I suspect that it is structured this way so poor employees wouldn't know where to go for their salary :-smile12