Yup...must be the water. vtx As far as I know, people on this fourm can disagree as long as they do so respectfuly and intelligently, and not have their posts deleted, not at your bequest. Everyone wants to see FS go on, but in a world of poverty, hunger and war...let's get excited about what is really important. Sign the petition, or don't, than move on.Bob

If one takes off the virtual pilot goggles, on realizes the reality of the situation. The collapse of Aces was hardly a speed bump to the Microsoft machine. In reality, while we think of the MSFS franchise as a big deal, Microsoft had more people working on the grounds keeping crew at the Redmond Campus than they had working at Aces. And mind you, the grounds keeping crew is still employed...which tells you where MSFS sits in the the grand hierarchy of things. The grass at Redmond is green and well manicured, Aces is fired and MSFS is no more.With that said, it is ENTIRELY possible to sway a company by petition or public reaction. The public relation and performance disaster that is / was Windows Vista is now being vigorously replaced by Windows 7 due, in no small part, to the public outcry and refusal of the vast majority of business and home users to adopt Vista. No matter how Microsoft tried to pull Vista out of the fire and ram it down the public's throats, no one would swallow and Microsoft and to actually LISTEN to the public. The result? Windows 7 coming to a store near you in a month and might I add, a WORK OF ART by Microsoft or any other standards. 7 is what Vista should have been.Unfortunately, FSX shared the same fate as Vista. A bloated disaster that took 2 patches to make it presentable and just when we saw hope for FSX on the horizon, the plug was pulled and FSX sank beneath the waves unceremoniously. Unfortunately, FS11 was on the drawing board and Aces figured out that the outcry against FSX mimicked that of XP users when they experienced Vista. FS11 was to be the Windows 7 of the flight sim community, the savior of MSFS when 3 1/2 years after the release of FSX, adoption was STILL less than 50% and FS9 was and is still more popular than FSX (at least by the latest polls). But alas, we did not get OUR Windows 7.That brings us full circle. Vista sales have been lackluster. Microsoft is FIRST a maker of operating systems, secondly a maker of servers, third a maker of applications and lastly a maker of PC Games. Additionally, somewhere up there between 1 and 2 is that of maker of consoles and console games because its console division is making money hand over fist. You can whine to MS about the FS Franchise laying at the bottom of a pile of boxes in the Redmond basement and Microsoft will not bat an eye at you. With the economy in the toilet, company layoffs, stock holders screaming bloody murder and the need to spend billions of dollars to release a new OS to replace the billions lost on the Vista disaster, do you REALLY believe that you few dozen or few hundred people begging for another version of MSFS would even get the attention of the Redmond Junior Janitor much less a Microsoft executive? Its time to grow up and smell the scent of reality...yes it stinks, but that's the way it is.Pulling the plug on Aces didn't drop Microsoft's share price one single penny. Sales figures on Vista cost Microsoft billions. MSFS is the longest running game title, yes. Is MSFS on Microsoft's radar right now? Absolutely NOT. Someday, it will return, I'm sure. I'm sure that when it comes back, it will be a great day. But make no mistake. It will come back when Microsoft is good and ready, when the economy has rebounded, when Microsoft believes that it will make them money, when Microsoft has decided if it can be a viable console title. But it will come back when Microsoft is good and ready and no petition is going to change that.There are literally thousands of add-ons for FS9 and FSX right now. Addons that transform FS9 and FSX into another sim. Unless you have partaken of all that the current titles have to offer, why not stop worrying about things you can't change and support the developers who have NOT abandoned you. Titles are being released all the time for both FS9 and FSX...your time is best spent contributing what you can to make sure developers stick around rather than spending time on a fool's errand.

Mike 'Mike T' Toussaint, you IMHO, have said it as well as it could be said,.....BRAVO! After all ACES did actually fail us also. They did way to much recycling and reusing of previous FS versions merged into the newer versions and stuck with a outdated graphics engine. I'm sure others have noticed the relic gauges and textures in FS9, some from Combat Flight Sim 2! In all fairness I am sure that was not by their choice, but by budget restraints etc. I know that with every new version we all expected a high wow factor, and were left with the need to fix, enhance, modify, and tweak to get them to perform and look acceptable according to each persons preference. So,.....let's move on and make the best of what we have. No matter which version of FS we as individuals prefer. As with so many large Corporation MS did this to MS, we the consumers and avid hobbyists just happened to be standing at the bottom of the hill where the do do rolls.No use beating a officially, clinically dead horse with a blunt object or a pen or a keyboard. In my humble opinion anyway.Best regards to all,MelP.S. Best hope, some developer ( there are rumors you know ) picks up the ball and runs with.

If one takes off the virtual pilot goggles, on realizes the reality of the situation. The collapse of Aces was hardly a speed bump to the Microsoft machine...

I'm almost surprised that more posts followed this one. I sympathize with the original post; I want to see this franchise survive as much as any of of us. It doesn't matter what we want. It was a business decision. Play FS as long as you can.EDIT: This was NOT a shot at your last post, mebull... I thought there were more posts after yours :( No disrespect intended.

No other software company will be making FS. Microsoft has been very, very adamant regarding that.They've been approached and flat out refused, repeatedly.As for whether FS is on their radar, I suspect it actually is. Just not the FS we remember.Oh, and FS is the longest running software title, not just game. :(

I do not often comment, but there is too much judgement going on. Some of the problems in this worldcome from judging other people and it needs to stop. Either sign the petition, or don't sign the petition,simple really. Lets stop all this judgement and maybe all the bickering will stop.

Personally I'm very happy it happened (not that the people at ACES lost their jobs though). Now my beloved FS9 will remain viable for many more years.FSX is nice for GA flying, but for heavy iron with massive amounts of AI FS9 still rocks. Combine that with the AI system works better in FS9 than FSX (my opinion only) and that the only thing I had heard about that FS11 would add to FSX was animated people (taken from the now dead TS2), I'm very happy with things as they are.Take care,