I tried X-Plane a few years ago. NO WAY. It is....sucky.I would revert back to FS2000 first, if that was possible.And the "thousands already migrating over to X-Plane" is way over the top.That is B.S."You can play it on I-phone". Good god man, get for real.We are mostly "Hard core flight simmers".Go home and take your meds Austin.

If you tried it a few years ago then shouldn't you try the latest version? Never mind about Austin, are you sure you haven't forgotten to take your meds? :(

Honestly, I could try XP again, but for the love of Pete, give me a demo I can actually run more than 7 min before my controls start to stop working. How the heck am I to evaluate XP in that amount of time? From what I read XP is also a tweaking type of sim.... uuugh, make it last 30 min at least please....Maybe once 9,3 comes out I'll try it again argh. I'm mainly a GA flyer, and I'm a RW controller and a pilot. I'll see how the smaller aircraft handle...

You can pause those demo minutes to make menu adjustments. I think the demo is up to 10 minutes now, but I could be wrong.L.Adamson

You can pause those demo minutes to make menu adjustments. I think the demo is up to 10 minutes now, but I could be wrong.L.Adamson

Yes demo is 10 mins now. Also pause and reply mode (press comma key) do not affect time limit.

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. :(

I agree completely with Ron . . . . . and I have to say I am embarrassed. We use X-Plane in the flight school I attend hooked up to modules for multi-engine crew training. It's okay for that purpose, but -- as i stated in another thread, for home use it's by far nothing compared to FS2004 and FSX.The part I am embarrassed about is that I just popsted in a few other threads here about how I wish ACES and Austin would team up. After reading the way the post that started this thread was written, I kind of regret saying anything that promoted an alliance between the two teams.I agree with both sides of the fence here -- but lean towards the side that there really should have been a lot more tact and empathy placed toward such a post. If I were a member of the ACES team, I wouldn't try to team with someone who just tried to capatalize on my getting fired due to typical Microsoft greed.My apologies to the ACES team,then, for my other posts and I sincerely hope you find some way to succeed in the future. if you guys DO make another FS, Microsoft or not, I'll be in line waiting.Until then -- as with Ron's standing, I will be enjoying the work of art you created known as FSX for years to come. I was one of those that had my doubts about FSX and its performance issues, bugs, etc when it was first released. But my entire opinion turned around once SP2 fixed what needed to be fixed and Acceleration was released. I was one that said "I'll never leave FS2004 for FSX", and now FS2004 has been packed away for over a year, with FSX being my exclusive sim.All I hope for is that future HARDWARE does not render FSX unusable before a worthy sim replaces it -- similar to the effect of trying to run Simtower on Vista Ultimate x64 (not that I tried to do that last week).Austin -- I hope you read this thread and maybe re-word your approach to those of us who are MSFS users if you wish us to use your product. The staff at my school are actually considering replacing ELITE with X-Plane in the small single-engine simulator labs. I personally hope they don't now and i am personally glad i finished IFR with the help of ELITE and MSFSX.

I agree completely with Ron . . . . . and I have to say I am embarrassed. We use X-Plane in the flight school I attend hooked up to modules for multi-engine crew training. It's okay for that purpose, but -- as i stated in another thread, for home use it's by far nothing compared to FS2004 and FSX.

What version? Probably something like v6.

After reading the way the post that started this thread was written

Please remember Austin did not make a public "post" in any forum. He just wrote that on his website, and someone posted it here on AVSIM.Marco

Please remember Austin did not make a public "post" in any forum. He just wrote that on his website, and someone posted it here on AVSIM.Marco

His website is a public web site, thus he indeed made a public post. In fact he made it in a location where he knew no one could speak out against him. After all, in his forums you don't say a thing negative about him or his product. That's well known.

His website is a public web site, thus he indeed made a public post.

Of course.I just wanted to specify that he did not make any posts on any MSFS forums, since some people reading this thread mistakenly thought that was the case.

After all, in his forums you don't say a thing negative about him or his product. That's well known.

THAT'S FALSE!If you read my posts, you'll see that, although I generally like and defend X-Plane, I remain also critical about it, and often talk about and acknowledge its many limitations.So, PLEASE DON'T SAY INCORRECT THINGS ABOUT ME. Marco

What version? Probably something like v6.

To be honest I really do not know. All I do see a panel of a Beech King B1900 or a Beech Kingair pop up in front of me and I fly. I am just an IFR student, nowhere near what my peers are. I just manage to get virtual runs in the sims whenever they are free and the instructor feels like booting them up for me (the instructors here are bloody awesome).

Please remember Austin did not make a public "post" in any forum. He just wrote that on his website, and someone posted it here on AVSIM.Marco

Sorry I meant different -- was meaning "post" as in "article", and by "beginning of thread" I meant this thread even though I know that the poster was not Austin. :-) I do appreciate the OP bringing this here for discussion, though. After my last reply I got a chance to read more of the pages of replies and it is very interesting to see the diverse standings on the issue. A good debate indeed.

Wow, I just stopped wondering what was up the the FS world lately as I've been away from it for a few months... and I see this? Just wow.Seems to me that MS has no intention of continuing the franchise in any recognizable format, or they would have kept some of the talent that built it and knows it well. They are either planning a ground-up rewrite and thought that ACES wouldn't be in a position to do that well (I cant see how that could be), or they are canning the entire thing, which jives much better with their actions.As for Austin's message and the reaction to it, those of you who are all bent out of shape at him for this post have misdirected your anger. Microsoft is responsible for canning the sim we all love, not Austin. Could the message had a bit more empathy, yes i think so. Anyways, be glad there is still an active flightsim developer left in the world, because in case you haven't noticed, he is "it". And no, I've never used X-Plane, but that looks like it might change.Sad times for all those connected with MSFS and all those who made their living on it.

Check that out: http://www.x-plane.com/order.html"X-Plane 9 (temporarily $39.00 to let in all the new MS users)" :( I find that absolutely ridiculous, both the post and that statement! I just hate it when a company has to bring in the competitor to praise and advertise his own product. It's fairly common nowadays in the US at least. Ford vs. Toyota or Apple vs. Microsoft and of course it's always the company that has the lower market share. But I think that just goes to show that they find their product so inferior that the only thing they can do is take advantage of such opportunities or compare their product with the competitor. I got nothing against Xplane but I find what Austin did very childish.By the way, I would just love to know how many "new MS users he let in"?

"But I think that just goes to show that they find their product so inferior that the only thing they can do is take advantage of such opportunities or compare their product with the competitor."As in the case of Apple vs. Microsoft, per your example?Nope. "Inferior" or "superior" does not equate to market share. This isn't a commentary on whether XP is inferior or superior to MSFS. To illustrate, you don't see many Rolls-Royce Phantoms on the road, but you see lots of Ford Ranger pickups. Market share really doesn't equate.As far as the pricing goes, traditionally, X-Plane is more expensive, and the price is reduced once in a while. It had been reduced to $39 for a while, and was advertised as going back up soon - then the ACES announcement came, so it seems smart to me, from a business perspective, to capitalize. Business isn't about -not- selling your products. I agree that there could have been a softer edge to Austin's message, but it's clear if you read through X-Plane's various sites (as well as the X-Plane scenery blog) that there has been good sentiment toward both the ACES team as well as the MSFS community's desires for an improved X-Plane."This is not a happy day; there is no joy in people losing their jobs in this economy." http://xplanescenery.blogspot.com/2009/01/...heard-news.htmlI think X-Plane has some catching up to do, and I expect it will only improve from here; currently, I think X-Plane's atmospheric effects to be great, though with my machine the visibility reduces to keep frame rates up. My preference for low and slow when I feel like looking outside the cockpit is MSFS running Tileproxy, even when I'm only getting 12-15fps.

Just a heads up that 9.30 beta #3 has been released with several new features (including enhancements to flight and engine modeling)More info here:http://www.x-plane.com/beta.htmlThe Laminar Research guys keep pumping out the updates! :( Bear in mind it's beta so expect some issues.

Not important, but am wondering how XP treats flights/scenery across the poles ?Cheers,Siggy

Check that out: http://www.x-plane.com/order.html"X-Plane 9 (temporarily $39.00 to let in all the new MS users)" :( I find that absolutely ridiculous, both the post and that statement! I just hate it when a company has to bring in the competitor to praise and advertise his own product. It's fairly common nowadays in the US at least. Ford vs. Toyota or Apple vs. Microsoft and of course it's always the company that has the lower market share. But I think that just goes to show that they find their product so inferior that the only thing they can do is take advantage of such opportunities or compare their product with the competitor. I got nothing against Xplane but I find what Austin did very childish.By the way, I would just love to know how many "new MS users he let in"?

Come on, the guy is actually trying to run a business in the most difficult environment we have seen in our lifetime. Austin did not create the situation at ACES and he has every right to market his company to take advantage of it. I hope he is successful becuase we all need other options, and if he is successful my guess is another company may enter the market to also try and profit from the demise of ACES.I suggest everyone read this article. You will soon understand what lies ahead for the Flight Simulation market when you realize how much money it takes to make a quality product.http://www.slate.com/id/2210732/Mark.

Guys, all I can say is. Keep updated on news and read threads thoroughly. Microsoft said since the start of this situation that they are committed to a flight simulator, even when there was no evidence to back it up. Well, we know there is a confirmation that something is happening at the ACES studio, but it is a secret, so that might make it harder for Austin to be ready on what to expect. When you don't know what kind of flight simulator the next one will be, it makes it difficult because flight simulator at ACES has not been announced and nobody knows if it will be a complete rebuild or overhaul of code, or if it will be a continuation with great features. I can say reading Phil's recent blog post, I doubt with the people from the old ACES studio, that the new FS will be arcade style, or dumbed down. Why? Because if the secret flight simulator was aracade style and did not have great intuitive ideas, they probably would not have come back after they were cut, or they might be ranting, not making happy posts on their blogs (Paul... :() I recommend all of you read these:http://www.futuregpu.org/2009/02/end-of-er...re-updates.htmlhttp://members.microsoft.com/careers/searc...;SortOrder=Desc.http://paul-flightsimguy.spaces.live.com/B...!1246.entry