Since the "gone gold" date is much earlier than expected, I can't help thinking that MS cannot find anything more to fix with the program. Surely if it still had any bugs of any significance at all, they would have delayed it going gold. Afterall, they still have more than a month before the published release date. As someone else said, they could keep changing the code for another few weeks if they really felt they had any need to.

Hum, altough not being an insider information at all, please note that sometimes, the release of software is a marketing driven event, not a technical driven event. Apple launched the MacIntosh with an add during the superbowl, and end of july is Oshkosh...

yes,i dont think that i am happy or sad to hear this news, cause i certainly hope they fixed all the errors found by the beta testers before going gold.Honestly i would have prefered if they waited another 3 weeks or so and then go gold, atleast that way i would have felt confident that they made a major attempt to fix the bugs.

>can't help thinking that MS cannot find anything more to fix>with the program. Surely if it still had any bugs of any>significance at all, they would have delayed it going gold."cannot find" is not the same "don't want to fix" and I am afraid the latter will hold true. I can bet that glideslope will still be as bugy as in FS2002 or that rolling friction never got fixed.Michael J.

Just because they found nothing to fix doesn't mean they couldn't have added a few more little things, they had allocated themselves an entire extra month so I'm a bit skeptical about it going gold. Even some of Robb Jubb's shot of some airports were lacking all buildings. (I believe it was Malaysia) "Problems" like that worry me... Especially since we can't count on a patch.[table][tr][td rowspan=2]http://timbo87.home.attbi.com/sig/valiant.gif[/td][td]

Tim Pinkawa

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Alpha Sims Texture Artist/Panel Designer

Tims FS Studio]

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My only thoughts (although no one really cares) is now we have a new weather engine that should make most happy since thats all you hear about in the previews as well as better auto-gen, a few more great bonuses so what will they improve for the next version. I sincerely hope that as a voice we speak again and from where I stand it would be to make ATC, AI, night lighting, and plane characteristics equal to that of what they've done with weather and lighting for this sim.Kilstorm

ebgames still has it slated for 7/28 release

yea I always thought it was going to be sold at Oshkosh, like the first day of Oshkosh would be the relase date, which it was. EAA Air Venture (better known as Oshkosh lol), starts the 28th of July. I wont mind seeing it earlier tho, but i doubt it (not tryin to be a party pooper)

Being a former games tester with Microsoft, let me tell you. All going "Gold" means is that the final version is now going to the mastering house so that the copies can be manufactured and distributed.I heard someone on this thread say they saw UT 2003 on shelves a mere 4 days after the gold announcement. It's my guess that in this case the "gold" announcement was late on UT's part, and they had gone gold much earlier.When Close Combat the Russian Front went gold, we were about 3 weeks out from seeing it appear on shelves. Needless to say, the distribution of FS2004 will be slightly larger than that of Close Combat. Not to mention, Microsoft Server 2003 is either Gold or very close to it. 4 to 5 weeks for RTM on this product is not amazing. Especially if Microsoft will be also manufacturing Server 2003 CD's in parallel. Still expect a July 28 release.I just hope I can run it a little while on my 600Mhz Celeron. I'm still two months out from a new computer......

I hope no-one's superstitious. It went gold on Friday 13th.... Best regards, Chris

All you guys crack me up...you guys will whine and complain when it gets pushed back by three weeks, but you whine and complain when it "appears"...note quotes here people to have gone Gold earlier than expected. While I don't doubt that is has, the simming community never ceases to amaze or humor me....

Why isn

>Not to mention, Microsoft Server 2003 is either Gold or very>close to it. Not that it has a lot to do with this discussion, but Server 2003 was released back in April.-Basil