What would you do

I would start flying real planes! :-lolhttp://saltydogfly2.avsim.net/images/avsim_sig.jpg

I would start crashing real planes (I use ms to practice, practice....and it pays off)http://mywebpages.comcast.net/geofa/pages/Geofdog2.jpg

MSFS fits a very niche, yet very large market. A marketer's dream come true. If MS decided not to continue, they would have many bids from other companies to take over the work, just to have access to such a large pre-organized market. It would take a special buyer to match the quality of product that we have come to expect however.

And maybe I'd finish my real plane!!L.Adamson

But until that day came Jordan, FS2004 would be the mainstay for years to come I would think.

I believe something like that has already happened in the flight simulator world. Hasn't Hardy Heinlin announced the end of development work on his PS1 project? I had a look at their website and the simulator is very much in use. I don't know if he has agreed to anyone else taking the project forward but I suspect that the product will continue to be used for many years to come in it present and possibly final incarnation.Your post is headed *What would you do*. Well, as I've said before, I am not prepared to keep paying out lots of money for everything which a new version of MSFS seems to require so I guess I am putting myself in the end of the line situation. I intend to keep flying FS2002. With the favourite addons which I have accumulated it is a fantastic and very absorbing product/hobby which I hope will keep me at it for years to come.David

just keep on flying the darned sim...its addictive you know ;-)my wife tells me i get itchy if i cannot fly for a day or two ;-)i need to get a LIFE!!

I'd like to take issue with the notion that flight simulator must be a momey making proposition for Microsoft. If you look at the broader market of hardward upgrades, I believe it is in the best interest of Microsoft to continue flight simulator because it perpertutes a continuing need for their upgraded operating systems which, let's face it, IS their cash cow. I, mean, flight simualtor is sold worldwide and of those buying how many purchased XP or XP Pro. Furthermore, how many purchased entirely new hardward to run flight simulator... I know I did. And take my word for it, those folks aren't buying new hardward and XP to run their Microsoft Office software faster. So, look at it this way, Microsoft could be the loss leader when it comes to Flight Simulator.Don BowlerDell 8250 2.53 Gig512 meg rdram

The product would die a silent death.About the only reason it sells well is because of the Microsoft brandname and the marketing machine behind it.All other software houses stopped development of sims because the profit margins on them are so much lower than those on other games (development cost up to 10 times as high, sales 10% at most of a DOOM clone for example).Addon development would die out as well. With ever more people moving away from the scene, the market for them would dwindle. Remember that the addon market is fairly constant in size, but only because about the same number of people enter it (as customers) as leave it. When no FS version is on the shelves anymore in stores, the number of people entering the scene would drop to zero quite rapidly while the number of people leaving would not go down substantially.The only sim left would be X-plane, for however long that one will survive without the interest people get in flightsimming from picking up a box of MSFS in stores and after a while looking for other sims on the net.

My prediction is Dell would start making flight sims otherwise I'd never buy another computer!

I guess I would have to go to my bank and ask for a loan on a 747-400. Hmmm...I wonder what the monthly payments on that would be?Sean Harvey(CYEG)

you could probably get a -100 for a lot cheaper :-hah

So negative....Are you saying that the number one software title of all time would die a "silent death"? I can't see how a flightsim user (I'm assuming here that you are one being on this forum) can take such a doom-and-gloom attitude towards it. Sure, most of the games being sold out there are the blood-soaked shooters, but then again, how many AREN'T? What percentage buys games like Age of Empires, Star Wars games, or any other specialized niche? I don't see the flight simulator being any different, and the only reason the other developers gave up is because of the MSFS monopoly. No one bought OS/2 because Windows has the monopoly. The Mac is outnumbered by PCs I think 9 to 1 (someone feel free to correct me on that stat on this, but it's still a wide margin) because PCs have a monopoly. Just because something doesn't have a massive percentage of the market doesn't mean it won't be profitable, otherwise every game out there would involve pointing your mouse at an ugly, pixelated mutant and blowing his head apart with a shotgun. And MS wouldn't be a month away from releasing the 9th version of their simulator if it didn't make money.If for some reason MSFS died, something else would take it's place. Heck, someone would probably buy the code from them and produce FS on their own.

I would just keep useing FS2004 .. Stopping production will at least allow me to keep up to date with all the aircraft and scenery :) (it takes me long enought to download stuff with a 56k modem)