Microsoft - An Editorial

[Guest JoeInCT]

While I am not a fan at all of MSNBC

[brownshoe 0]

Joe,A thoughtful and articulate post. Your experience seems fairly typical. I, too, plan my hardware purchases around the next version of FS.Now that there isn't going to be a "next" version of MSFS, folks are looking around for the next "killer" flight sim. I'm sure hard-core simmers aren't a huge part of the hardware market, but if you're right, then the loss of the Flight Simulator brand at Microsoft could be just one indication of a much larger trend.As for me, I'm staying with FS9 for the foreseeable future, but my eyes are on X-Plane as the future of the "hobby." Love it or hate it, X-Plane seems to be in the best position to pick up the extra market share left by the demise of the MS line.X-Plane is, however, developed on and for the Mac. It works in Windows, too. But, if I decide to go the X-Plane route, I'll definitely be checking out the Apple store for comparison when it's time to get a new computer. Previously, I never would have considered a Mac, since they didn't run Flight Simulator. But now that that's gone, I guess I'll be comparing Apples to ......?I'm just sayin'...Dave

[mabe54 17]

[scott967 63]

Was never a fan of MS. I think FS was the one of the few MS software I had for many years. After running PC-DOS 1 and 2 on my original IBM PC, I went to DrDOS (though I did run Win 3.0/3.1 on it). Had a Lotus 123 look alike and WordPerfect which met all my needs.I then went to OS/2 2.0 - Warp 4.5 (even back then it was as good as XP would be later) and had a hiatus from FS until I had to break down and install Win 98 (too hard keeping up hardware compatibility on Warp). But that did get me back to FS.scott s..

[Mace 1,972]

Well you won't find too many pro-Ballmer people in the FS community right now, anyway. :)I wouldn't rule out the possibility of another Microsoft version of FS. Put it all in perspective--the economic conditions reflect the current state of MSFS. It was deemed non-essential software by the Ballmer-led MS brass, and there's not much else to say about it.

[Sharrow 0]

In a few years time my suspicion is that we may well all be looking back at MS's decision to pull the plug on its FS franchise as exactly what the doctor ordered. The exposure of MS as an unreliable partner to the flight sim community has spurned a lot of soul searching, that is for sure. I suspect that a lot of folks woke up the next morning with a nagging feeling that perhaps their eggs were in too few baskets, and rightly so.I also think that MS very well knew that it had an unsustainable business model going forward with their flight sim franchise. How frustrating do you think it would be to sell your game for $50 and then watch a significant portion of your user base pile many more $ into addons from which you see not a cent? There was no way this sceanrio was going to last, not with the likes of the iPhone application store showing everyone how it should be done.My feeling is that MS will indeed come out with a new flight simulator in the next few years. Whether it is the kind of sim that any of us here will be interested in remains to be seen but, either way, there will inevitably be more "baskets" out there in the future for developers and publishers of FS addons. And that can only be a good thing for the future of flight sim.

[mabe54 17]

Actually MIcrosoft doesn't have all the time in the World. If they wait too long their come back might be too little too late. And being a corporation they do not have the luxury of waiting for results time to pick up the pace either. The board wants results yesterday not sometime in the future.Cheers,MAB

[airboatr 0]

Joe.....your right in what you say,and it's a shame to watch it happen.Joe

[Guest JoeInCT]

In my editorial (above), I illustrated how bad things have become at Microsoft under Steve Balmer's leadership. I read an interesting editorial in the New York Times yesterday titled "Microsoft's Creative Destruction". It seems they are content to concentrate only on the OS (operating system) and Office products as their key (and perhaps only?) means of income. How sad. The PC is no longer the premeir gaming platform and we can no longer expect anything cool coming out of Microsoft. Including Flight Sim. Here's the article (not sure how long this link will be active):http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/04/opinion/...t&st=Search

[greggerm 312]

With all due respect... "The reports of the death of the flight simulation hobby have been greately exaggurated."

[dmaher 0]

I

[michal 44]

I don't care for Ballmer one way or another (whether he is good or bad) but some simmers here must have too much time on their hands writing long tirades and spewing sour grapes only because a company failed to deliver (in their opinion) on their favorite game called Flight Simulator which is probably an utterly insignificant portion of Microsoft's total business. It is really up to shareholders and officers of the company to judge Ballmer's performance.

[Brett_Henderson 5]

Another element that keeps getting overlooked.. is what happened to hardware pricing and the "speed" curve that we all got used to; as Intel and AMD kept fighting with each other for the lead.As soon as Intel got the lead and ran with it, the PC gaming world changed. We got used to expecting the next wave of technology (speed mostly) to become affordable within a year. Now, not only has the speed curve flattened, so have the pricing. Gone are the days when something like an i7-965 would hit the market at $1,500, and then be $300 within 12 months ..*sigh*As for simming.. a mixed blessing is the almost open-ended potential in FSX. X-plane is still in a pre-FS2002 state, as far as overall simming experience goes.

[dmaher 0]

Also form the Denver conference

[ViperPilot 81]

What's going to keep Flight Sim alive is the ability of folks to adapt and produce add on's that will enhance the program and make it more 'realistic' and enjoyable. One thing to remember though, is that many people who want to try out Flight Sim may not have and can't afford the "latest and greatest" system that's out there. In reading the forums and posts on this site (and others) many people have older systems that just don't have the hardware capability to run FSX at its full potential. That's why there are quite a few folks that are still running FS8 (like myself) and FS9. If anything, developers, both free and payware alike need to remember that and at least try to make product available for those other platforms. FSX is incredible, but don't forget the "little guys" out there, too!AlanDell Inspiron 92001.8GHz Pentium M1 Mb Ram150Gb avail on Hard DrivesRadeon 9700/ 128 Mb