Austin (X-Plane) writes about MSFS

[ryanbatc 12,837]

Many tens of thousands of people have been switching over from Microsoft Flight Simulator to X-Plane for quite a few years, and the current situation at Microsoft would seem to indicate that this trend will continue at an accelerating rate.

I'd like to see the numbers on that!LOL @ the entire post

[Guest simjunkie]

Seriously, send him email on how you all feel about this. Don't be mean, just tell him what he wrote on a public forum (be it Xplane or not) was out of touch and not appreciated. A complete snub and very unprofessional.-jk

[gman! 1]

He should have shown empathy, cause I bet $100,000 that if there was no such thing as Microsoft Flight Simulator, there wouldn't be an X-Plane, and he should thank the team for competing, wishing them the best, and making Flight Simulator, because without MS FS, X-Plane probably wouldn't have been started.BTW: I think the post that he made will make people that use MS Flight Simulator, AND people that haven't used MS FS turn their backs to X-Plane, because he glorifies X-Plane like its the best thing on earth, saying its easy (SUCH A LIE, Downloand an X-Plane demo and see how long it takes to setup and look at the UI [e.g. Aircraft selection has no pics of planes, have to set all controls with the controller, etc.]). He also claims that he has AMAZING things that blow people's socks off (my arse!). This guy has no sympathy and from what I have heard, Austin likes to think of him as the best guy around. This is a shameful thing to do on Austin's part making a letter that sounds like saying "In your face!" (Maybe he is the Nixon of Flight Simulator, insecure and all).If X-Plane stopped being developed and the ACES team was still there, I bet Microsoft would eitherA) Not blog, or post at allOR:( Express their sympathy for Austin having to cut his team or something and talk about how good he was at competing (I kinda doubt they would right something like this though, with Austin glorifying X-Plane excessively....And to the people that are thinking about abandoning FS2004/FSX I recommend to...

• Switch from FS2004 to FSX (It won't hurt you ^__^)
• Try FlightGear, an open source (a free) Flight Simulator, that is good IHMO, but just needs some time to get up to FSX04/FSXs level (I think the dynamics in the game are probably past X-Plane though :()
• Keep playing Flight Simulator and buy add-on products to keep it alive and bring you more enjoyment. The ACES studio being shutdown should not make you stop playing a game.

The post that Austin made was VERY unprofessional, and showed how good (and by "how good" I do not mean it in a good way) he was at selling a product. I'm 15 and even I can see this!

[Gate99 246]

This poorly timed, misplaced post seems like a cheap ploy to try and get FSX users to switch over to X-Plane. Although I've never used X-Plane, I was -until now, interested in checking it out. "Business" practices like this make me sick. I for one will now not be considering X-Plane as viable FSX replacement.Regards,Mark

From X-Plane.com= = = Microsoft has laid off it's entire Flight Simulator development team, and many people are not sure what to do next.Many tens of thousands of people have been switching over from Microsoft Flight Simulator to X-Plane for quite a few years, and the current situation at Microsoft would seem to indicate that this trend will continue at an accelerating rate.We at Laminar Research are ready for the influx of new customers that is coming in now, and will be facilitating the move from Microsoft Flight Simulator to X-Plane to make the transition as easy as possible for everyone, and continuing to make X-Plane the most powerful, accurate, flexible, and fun flight-sim there is.With or without Microsoft, I believe that X-Plane is by far the best flight-sim on the market, and the development of new versions that we have going on behind the scenes right now... ooo boy, what's coming next will blow everything away that you have seen so far.This page will be devoted to helping people convert from MS to X-Plane. We will post tools to convert airplanes and scenery, and tutorials explaining how to use and develop for X-Plane that are oriented towards people that have been using, and developing for, MS in the past.Many people make their living creating add-ons for MS, and those people may be anxious about the apparent demise of MS Flight Simulator... I don't think they NEED to be worried, though, as 2008 was the best year ever for X-Plane (thanks largely to the Apple iPhone, and the huge swath of customers that came over to X-Plane when they discovered from the iPhone version how cool X-Plane is) and X-Plane is NOT going away.In fact, X-Plane sales are INCREASING each year, and X-Plane is actually quite a bit EASIER to develop planes and scenery for than MS Flight Simulator.Plane-Maker is very user-friendly, and if you can just enter the GEOMETRY of the aircraft in Plane-Maker, then X-Plane will predict the way the airplane flies FOR YOU, so you need NOT enter aircraft performance into X-Plane, like you need to with MS... X-Plane does all of that FOR YOU. The X-Plane aircraft visual system is based on this geometry you enter in Plane-Maker by default, and can be over-ridden with incredibly detailed 3-D models if you like.. 3-D models that can be easily exported from AC3D.As well, tools exist to convert scenery from MS to X-Plane format, and we will soon be posting those tools to make the transition easy for you if you develop, or have a large collection of, MS scenery.As well, we have PLUGINS (see the 'Plugins HQ' link at the front of X-Plane.com) to interface third-party tools with X-Plane... with Plugins, you can read and write data from X-Plane very easily, allowing you to write third-party add-ons, which we enthusiastically support.The bottom line is that we at Laminar Research are ready to accept the inflow of customers from Microsoft, will continue to make X-Plane the best flight simulator in the industry, have new things lined up that will knock your socks off, and will post tools and information here that will make your transition from MS to X-Plane be as painless (and fun!!) as possible.This applies equally to both customers and add-on developers.Signed: Austin Meyer, Author, X-Plane= = =

[mwilk 1,106]

I've owned X-Plane, I've flown X-Plane. Mr. Meyer, X-Plane is no MSFS!

[cat 2]

Great! Send us a little jpeg of X-Plane on approach to SydneyYSSY, via the Sydney Opera House & Harbours!!Peter Sydney Australia

[N400QW 205]

I remember visiting the XPlane booth at Oshkosh the last few years and leaving unimpressed. Never owned it and don't intend too.What may have been overlooked this week is the fact that Microsoft FS9 and FSX are very viable simulators in their own right.If a new improved version never comes to market we still have the best Flight Simulator to date. :(

[boshar 6]

Asking Austin to apologize, sending him mail expecting him to react.... you guys clearly don't know who you are dealing with. Just live on the X-Plane forums for a while. This is message is Austin in friendly mode. :( He won't react to forum messages and even if you send him nicely worded mails you will get the distinct impression they got delivered to his trashcan instead of his inbox. Austin can be the way he wants to be he is the X-Plane god, his own Boss and he is not likley to disagree with himself or fire himself on the spot :)But be fair. This is a message posted on his own website meant for people looking at X-Plane. If you are the aaaaargh FS is dead lets jump ship type you might actually be interested in tools to make your current add-ons kind of work and a word of welcome. Nobody asked for it to be posted on the FS-X fan part of AVSIM. But hey we can vent some frustration on Austin so he might even serve a purpose here.As a multi flightsim user (FS9, FS-X, Fly2, Flightgear and X-Plane) I certainly hope that X-Plane stays the way it is and is not developed into X-Plane for MS-flightsimmers. X-Plane and FS have their own strenghts and some of those just don't mix. The thing is that what makes X-Plane special is the current closely knit community full of freeware authors doing their thing (just like in the good old FS98 - FS2000 days) . A large influx from the FS camp could easily destroy that community sense.

[Guest rdg]

He should have shown empathy, cause I bet $100,000 that if there was no such thing as Microsoft Flight Simulator, there wouldn't be an X-Plane, and he should thank the team for competing, wishing them the best, and making Flight Simulator, because without MS FS, X-Plane probably wouldn't have been started.BTW: I think the post that he made will make people that use MS Flight Simulator, AND people that haven't used MS FS turn their backs to X-Plane, because he glorifies X-Plane like its the best thing on earth, saying its easy (SUCH A LIE, Downloand an X-Plane demo and see how long it takes to setup and look at the UI [e.g. Aircraft selection has no pics of planes, have to set all controls with the controller, etc.]). He also claims that he has AMAZING things that blow people's socks off (my arse!). This guy has no sympathy and from what I have heard, Austin likes to think of him as the best guy around. This is a shameful thing to do on Austin's part making a letter that sounds like saying "In your face!" (Maybe he is the Nixon of Flight Simulator, insecure and all).If X-Plane stopped being developed and the ACES team was still there, I bet Microsoft would eitherA) Not blog, or post at allOR:( Express their sympathy for Austin having to cut his team or something and talk about how good he was at competing (I kinda doubt they would right something like this though, with Austin glorifying X-Plane excessively....And to the people that are thinking about abandoning FS2004/FSX I recommend to...

• Switch from FS2004 to FSX (It won't hurt you ^__^)
• Try FlightGear, an open source (a free) Flight Simulator, that is good IHMO, but just needs some time to get up to FSX04/FSXs level (I think the dynamics in the game are probably past X-Plane though :()
• Keep playing Flight Simulator and buy add-on products to keep it alive and bring you more enjoyment. The ACES studio being shutdown should not make you stop playing a game.

I own x-plane, and although it does an OK job, it lacks in the outside world department. The outside world has been improved over the years, but has 10's of thousands of hours to go to catch up to MS. My biggest beef with x-plane is not x-plane itself, because it is what it is, it is how the owner communicates with his user base. To me, he sounds like Dad talking to his kids and the kids don't know anything. FSX is going to be used for quite awhile anyway, so that will give x-plane a chance to spend the 999,000 hours to get it to a point where MS fans will be happy.RegardsBob

[davidv 0]

I tried out X-Plane 9.21 a couple months ago. The terrain is quite nice, the weather has its plusses but the winds are horribly exaggerated, framerates were ok with settings on high, but thats about it. The planes in terms of visuals and interface are YEARS behind FSX and even FS9. 3D cockpits are a new thing to Xplane, even many new planes don't have them. $15 payware planes for xplane seem to be as detailed as FS2002 freeware was. Cockpits are horribly awkward to interact with, and its not just a matter of adjusting, its completely counterintuitive. In the end what's the point of a flightsim if the planes suck? Oh and empty airports are just boring.FS9 and FSX still function just fine without a new sim coming out, just gives us more time to make more addons for them and less worry about if some addon will work in FS11 or if our hardware can keep up. Just gives us time for catchup.Without a good user interface or good planes I really don't see that many people making the switch. X-Plane still seems to me more a glorified tech demo than a complete product.

[greeneg 0]

Austin's ego ( and the unbelieveable number of emails congratulating himself) are the reason that I left X-Plane years ago.

[MatthewS 761]

Maybe his timing is a little bad, but since hearing the news about ACES I decided to give the X-Plane 9.22 demo a try. I am very impressed!Some of the things I like about X-Plane 9.22* Frequent updates! Austin seems to deliver a major new version every year, with updates during the year.* High FPS and absolutely no stutters (and multicore support)* Super smooth gauges (over 800 standard gauges in 9.22)* Plane maker included. Create your own planes and edit other peoples planes. Including Virtual Cockpit and livery support* Landing lights that illuminate (and not wash out) the ground, scenery, other aircraft, clouds and rain! * Sloped runways* Waves on water, and amphibious planes "ride" the waves much better than in FSX.* Aircraft SDK (like simconnect), Plugin SDK, Scenery SDK* Worldwide terrain (70 gigs worth on 6 DVDS) in the full version* Nice water shaders* "Autogen" trees and buildings seem to be much more realistically scaled and not enormous like in FSX! Additionally the trees look a lot better IMHO. * Cloud shadows!* Volumetric fog/clouds. You absolutely can't see the ground in thick fog.* Windscreen wiper support* Blowing snow on runways* Support for beizer taxiways (nice smooth curves)* Track IR support* Better joystick/controller support than FSX. Seems to have many more axis and button assignments.* IcingProbably many more I have not discovered yet!Great Freeware/Payware* FS2XP converts FSX scenery to X-plane!* G2XP makes Google earth photo scenery for X-plane* Many freeware planes available, including 737, 767 with very nice VC! * Universal FMC (payware addon) which seems to be quite sophisticated Boeing style FMC including VNAV,LNAV support.edit: Here's the Universal FMC linkSome of the things I don't like about X-Plane:-* Currently not the same level of payware aircraft as FSX/FS9 has payware aircraft, eg PMDG MD11/747, LDS767, CS MD80, FLight1 Mustang etc. * Not sure if all aircraft fly "by the numbers" as closely as FS9/FSX. However the 737/767 I've been trying seem very believable. Now that the Microsoft FS franchise is seemingly dead, I am happy to support XPlane and have ordered my copy. I really hope Austin gets an influx of new users, and that more payware products become available for it. It seems like a very stable and powerful flight simulator.Give the demo a try. You might like it!

[MatthewS 761]

Austin's ego ( and the unbelieveable number of emails congratulating himself) are the reason that I left X-Plane years ago.

Maybe he's a little "eccentric", I dont know. But what he has achieved with X-plane is quite amazing. Give 9.22 a try.

[skyguy414 0]

MSFS is still light years ahead of X plane. Despite the recent awful news, I am not even thinking about the need to switch to a new sim altogether. To do so would be ridiculous. MSFS will continue to suit my needs for many years to come.I will gladly welcome any developer who can even closely match the quality and functionality of MSFS, but that is still a long way off in my opinion.

[turner112 52]

As far as I know, Austin's always been a bit brash. People will always make extreme comments one way or another... it's the best, it's the worst, etc. Way back when, maybe 10 years ago, he'd answer the phone himself. Not sure if he still does this. There's always been the feeling that Austin does whatever he wants, but I don't assume he has the same priorities as Microsoft, nor do I feel he's tried to really compete with MSFS.Personally, I think the terrain is pretty good. It runs much more smoothly than FSX on the same machine, but of course there are trade-offs.Also, I feel the 3d cockpits in X-Plane have a way to go, but are pretty decent. They also reflect the light off the clouds reflecting the strobes off the plane at night ;) (Turning off the strobes is a good thing in this situation...)Regarding whatever callousness may exist, I think the x-plane scenery blog approaches the situation in a way that would be taken as more humane than most. It also acknowledges that concessions and improvements in UI need to be addressed now, so perhaps XP will improve in ways we may not expect yet.I'd encourage people to try the demo, at least, those who have not sworn to oppose X-Plane no matter what. The people saying they won't try it because they don't want to switch is like saying they don't want to try strawberry because chocolate is their favorite.Either way, I'll continue using both, and just kinda see what happens.cheers,Andrew