A Trivia Question

[CraigC 0]

Some time ago I posted a question and got a couple of different interesting responses. My question was: Who was the first person or company to charge money for an add-on to MSFS? I found a link to MSFS's past, and I believe that I have found the answer. If the information stored in this website is infact correct, the first add-on was from BAO (Bruce Artwick Organization). If you havent seen the website, or dont know who Bruce Artwick is, he is credited (at least through this source) with the birth of flight simulation on the PC. Bruce later formed BAO, which was aimed at products for the flight simulator.As I said, I dont know if this site is credible or not, but its very interesting to get a complete history of flight simulator, and then see the old lines and wire buildings you used to fly around. If anyone has any more info on this that is not revealed on this site, please feel free to add. Here is the link:http://simflight.com/~fshistory/fsh/start.htmCraig

[Guest rmce]

Craig,Indeed!The first sim I had ran on a Sinclair Spectrum ZX 81. (in 1981!)It was state of the art stuff. A line representing the horizon, and two parallel lines as the runway.It had circles and ellipses as lakes.The readouts were only in numbers, with course, height and speed.With a total of 1k memory it launched me onto zillions of hours and money(!) on computers. I always checked what Flight Sims looked like on any new computer. C-64, Atari 500-1000, and finally a 286 with Mr Artwick & Champaign Il.Meigs became my vitual home.Now as I 'climb'aboard my Dreamfleet 737 Jet Blue, do the FMC, and take off in atrocious weather from Glasgow my home city, and head out for Maderia (Portuguese Holiday Island) where the approach is hampered by massive cliffs alongside the runway, I often look back to these early but thrilling days. I used to wonder where it would develop to, always believing that the 'computer' was going to bring a new age back in 1981.However, I am still gobsmacked at what I am doing now on a daily basis. I am a FS nerd, and friends (those I have left) avoid the study/computer room like the plague as I will bore them to death with what I have sim wise now!On real world flights as a passenger, do not sit beside me! My wife is long suffering and is the sensible type of traveller who does not care how she gets there but only wants to arrive. Whereas I used to get access to flight deck (pilots mostly appreciated that you were a MS Simmer) and sat in flight, at first officers chair in 737's etc.I was amazed at what I could understand! Once, I had a heavily supervised 'shot' of turning a 757 onto new course. Now that was a BUZZ!I did some 20 odd PPL lessons until the money ran out, and could follow courses, understand winds,, and even crab landings!It may be a very dangerous thing, but reality and FS simming became not as mutually exclusive as I would have imagined!!On holidays, business flights the airports became 'real' to me. I now simulate any flight I am going on first!Its amazing what this teaches you. Once, having turned right instead of left out of hotel in LA, I realised that I was going in wrong direction when I passed Fullerton! I did a U turn (yes outside Fullerton and got away with it) and my family asked what I was doing. I explained that the airport there is south of where we were, we should be going East. I just KNEW this! Where next?I suppose the active chair which has been tried I know, is the next add on. 3D still really to come. Scenery will just get better and better.From 1K Spectrum to 2.5 P4 with 512 etc etc has taken 20 years, but Flight Simulators have matched this progress. You wanna test a computer? Get Fs!!Great Article! Thanks for posting!RonaldGlasgow