My speculation too of course…it's completely theory ;)I agree the Market will be a huge benefit to developer and user alike.And it is good to question whether MS might lock all alternatives - it still hasn't been mentioned yet.In fact I think it’s an important topic to discuss.I’ve heard well considered and respected opinions that it may be locked.And Flight may well be between a rock and a hard place on this matter anyway.Or maybe a locked market wouldn’t as bad as I imagine.Still it is certainly a choice that presents many risks…I think it's best they avoid it if at all possible.

There's the little matter of the law getting in the way.. if Microsoft abuses their store and makes it the only portal given the numerous ones available, then we can all join in the class action lawsuit and acuse them of price fixing or market manipulation.... any FS lawyers around? EA tried to do something similar with the NFL licensing, so they would be the only vendor. The courts are about to hear the case.

It may not be quite so simple as that. See the US Supreme Court's decision on 13 December 2010 in the case of Costco vs Omega. It ruled against Costo importing and selling genuine Omega watches without Omega's asuthorisation. French Courts have made similar rulings and the European Court of Justice is considering a another case.

dmaher: it's very hard to lock out the users, and not the developers at the same time. So definitely I can't see developers paying to have their machines unlocked for development purposes. And that gets really messy with beta testers that aren't inhouse. So not only do I feel it's a bad direction, I don't think it's even technically possible to do without driving all the new talent to X-plane. They already charge $100 dollars a year for unlocking Xbox. And I doubt they're trying to make a profit.

I think a market could be a fantastic idea and not the end of things as we know it. Here's the way I'd like to see it set up:-Downloads sorted by several categories and search functions including price, rating, # of downloads, and of course if it's an aircraft or scenery or whatever.-Author's name and associated organisation are listed-The associated website is listed and this is where support along with previews and other such things are given.-Beta testing review process by groups of people specialised in a certain area and after a certain number of approvals are given the download is placed on the market-Freeware is hosted for free since it essentially earns MS more cash.-Payware is hosted for a small percentage fee.

-Beta testing review process by groups of people specialised in a certain area and after a certain number of approvals are given the download is placed on the market

Paid for by the developer?

-Freeware is hosted for free since it essentially earns MS more cash.

If I upload a freeware add-on where does Microsoft's extra cash come from and would it cover the costs of hosting it?

-Downloads sorted by several categories and search functions including price, rating, # of downloads, and of course if it's an aircraft or scenery or whatever.

Yeah, this kind of detailed info (in one place) will make choosing an add-on a lot easier. What’s hot…and what’s not ;)

-Beta testing review process by groups of people specialised in a certain area and after a certain number of approvals are given the download is placed on the market-Payware is hosted for a small percentage fee.

My hunch is the percentage may actually be relatively high. Among other things, vetting the product for bugs and licenses may req'r higher premiums.Who knows what sort of licensing might be required…and what kind of liabilities MS would be taking on.

-Freeware is hosted for free since it essentially earns MS more cash.

It is sort of intangible, but I’ve always believed MS does earn cash from freeware, because it adds value to their product. Imagine an equivalent FSX product that doesn’t support add-ons, it wouldn't sell as well. App stores host free apps…so maybe Flight will too.

Paid for by the developer?

It would most likely be in the hosting fee

My hunch is the percentage may actually be relatively high. Among other things, vetting the product for bugs and licenses may req'r higher premiums.Who knows what sort of licensing might be required…and what kind of liabilities MS would be taking on.

Yeah I figure it'll probably be a hefty fee but my ideas were what I'd hope to see in my optimistic sunshine-land world lol

The current 'model' Microsoft uses for add-ons (freeware and commercial) has worked out very well and helped ensure that Microsoft Flight Sim has retained the number 1 spot for civilian home based flight sims.I can't speak for Microsoft, but generally if ain't broke you shouldn't try to fix it.Microsoft bean counters are probably thinking they can make money off the add-on market (in an Apple Store kind of way), but in their push to do that, they could easily kill the whole sim altogether.As has been mentioned a 1000 times, it's the addons that keep Flight Sim alive.Take away the addons and make developing for flightsim too restrictive or complicated or onerous, and Flight won't last long.... People could very well start gravitating toward X-Plane if X-Plane can really hits a home run in their next version.

The current 'model' Microsoft uses for add-ons (freeware and commercial) has worked out very well and helped ensure that Microsoft Flight Sim has retained the number 1 spot for civilian home based flight sims.I can't speak for Microsoft, but generally if ain't broke you shouldn't try to fix it.Microsoft bean counters are probably thinking they can make money off the add-on market (in an Apple Store kind of way), but in their push to do that, they could easily kill the whole sim altogether.As has been mentioned a 1000 times, it's the addons that keep Flight Sim alive.Take away the addons and make developing for flightsim too restrictive or complicated or onerous, and Flight won't last long....   People could very well start gravitating toward X-Plane if X-Plane can really hits a home run in their next version.

couple os thoughts ...If Microsoft instituted an "apple store" marketplace .. why would that kill addons?   Addon marketplaces exist today and I would say that the sim is as fun as ever.  I don't see how freeware or payware would change because of MS's marketplace store.  Why are you assuming that MS store would be more complicated than any other marketplace store?

Flight is brand new so how can it be broken or need fixing already , IMHO the only thing we will loose with Flight is the free addons made by the regular simmers.As far as I know MS was not in the addons business for FSX and will not be for Flight. The marketplace store will provide a safe place for all payware dev. to sell their products without fearing illegal download or hackers getting to it. It will be a you scratch my back and I scratch yours "kinda" deal between MS and the dev. I think the dev. are more than welling to pay what ever fees MS is asking to host their products because at the end they will come up on top anyway by not having their products hacked (loss of revenue).You will have to make a decision about staying with FSX or go with Flight (FSX enhanced hoping they fixed all the bugs) with better visual and perf. for a fee, like I said before you "wanna" play you pay. Another thing, IMHO MS and the dev. will look at how succesfull Flight may be after x amount of time and if it's going well the dev. will slowly stop making addons for FSX trying to get everybody on board with Flight.....just a thought.....been a payware dev. that's what I'll do.

all I can say is WOW.. REALLY?, do we really think a market place will hurt Microsoft flight, a gaming product that has been around since the 80s. I bought MSFS back in the late 80s. I also owned a Casio boss for a PDA (lol).. I know own a Google phone and never could imagine I would have bought so many apps from the market place. why ? because i was exposed to it. it was easy to do. Before with my winmo 6 phone i would only buy what I was exposed to. Some of you old timers(i'm an Old timer..lol) are skeptical of change, but if there is no change and advancement MS will shut down this game division, you need to do what is necessary to bring in new blood, To this day people are still surprised by what my flight Sim can do( I have 4 monitors, goflight radio stack, overhead switches, rudders, throttle, yoke, a ton of Aerosoft add ons, PMDG, UTX, GTX, U terrain, and alot more, so trust me I know what I might loose), but when I tell them that, they want to see it, and those who currently have had FS9/MSFX, never knew it could do all that.. Like it was stated earlier, if you didn't know about these forums, you most likely didn't know about peripherals and software add ons. This is an over the shelf product , that is still hard to find and might have 1 or 2 aircraft add ons. Do you know how much Microsoft might be missing expecting people to go out of their way to research and find sites to buy add ons that they never knew existed. and as for the poor lol developers ..its called retooling folks, happens in the automobile industry all the time..look at the emergence of 3D movies, animators have to up their skills, but who wins, we do..better cars to better movies. at the end of the day , this is software. There will be smart developers that will make a ton of money. I have a friend that wanted to write software for Iphone, he saw the 3 inch thick book of what you need to know and passed...NEXT!!. the iphone is successful for one reason..APPS. I stated this in a previous post ( I have been on this forum for over 10 years, just never registered). If had to give up these addon for a smoother game. I would rather buy these add ons again vs. another 2500 upgrade to run the software. and though my products run MSFX ok, I would love better performance. Sorry about the ramble, but I had to add my 2 cents and $20...lol

It would most likely be in the hosting fee

So anyone could submit any old rubbish and have it put through a Beta testing review process by groups of people specialised in a certain area for free and then have it rejected?

As has been mentioned a 1000 times, it's the addons that keep Flight Sim alive.

How many first-time buyers are even aware of the existence of addons? There are too few hardcore enthusiasts to make FS commercially viable. Microsoft's target market isn't us - and never will be.

I would sooner think Microsoft would invest in dumbing down the product to reach a larger audience by focussing on missions and making sure it's playable out of the box with the 360 controller... they may have ambitions for a Marketplacem but remember Microsoft could just as easily selling you a title from a Major Studio, so they're going to be very selective in making sure you have a good experience.

all I can say is WOW.. REALLY?, do we really think a market place will hurt Microsoft flight, a gaming product that has been around since the 80s. I bought MSFS back in the late 80s. I also owned a Casio boss for a PDA (lol).. I know own a Google phone and never could imagine I would have bought so many apps from the market place. why ? because i was exposed to it. it was easy to do. Before with my winmo 6 phone i would only buy what I was exposed to. Some of you old timers(i'm an Old timer..lol) are skeptical of change, but if there is no change and advancement MS will shut down this game division, you need to do what is necessary to bring in new blood, To this day people are still surprised by what my flight Sim can do( I have 4 monitors, goflight radio stack, overhead switches, rudders, throttle, yoke, a ton of Aerosoft add ons, PMDG, UTX, GTX, U terrain, and alot more, so trust me I know what I might loose), but when I tell them that, they want to see it, and those who currently have had FS9/MSFX, never knew it could do all that.. Like it was stated earlier, if you didn't know about these forums, you most likely didn't know about peripherals and software add ons. This is an over the shelf product , that is still hard to find and might have 1 or 2 aircraft add ons. Do you know how much Microsoft might be missing expecting people to go out of their way to research and find sites to buy add ons that they never knew existed. and as for the poor lol developers ..its called retooling folks, happens in the automobile industry all the time..look at the emergence of 3D movies, animators have to up their skills, but who wins, we do..better cars to better movies. at the end of the day , this is software. There will be smart developers that will make a ton of money. I have a friend that wanted to write software for Iphone, he saw the 3 inch thick book of what you need to know and passed...NEXT!!. the iphone is successful for one reason..APPS. I stated this in a previous post ( I have been on this forum for over 10 years, just never registered). If had to give up these addon for a smoother game. I would rather buy these add ons again vs. another 2500 upgrade to run the software. and though my products run MSFX ok, I would love better performance. Sorry about the ramble, but I had to add my 2 cents and $20...lol

I agree with everything you say and go one step farther: MS Flight ought to have one airport with a 25 mile radius where third-party developpers can showcase their aircraft and scenery add-ons. Do you like the add-on? Click! Its yours! And it is donloaded automatically and installed automatically. For an extra fee, you can get back-up DVDs or use the clouds (nice pun, huh?) to re-download.Impulse buyig is a well known concept by supermarkets and suppliers pay a hety dee to place their merchandise near the checkout registers because we like to purchase on impulse. This is a feature of human psychology. For simming its no diferent: Make it really easy to purchase via Amazon-style "one-click" and folks will overspend on add-ons, guaranteed, and you add-on developpers will be happy as clams, so you will develop even more add-ons for us simmers (South America, Africa photosceneries, anyone?) and we simmers will be happy as clams too (alas poorer in the process.)As Kilo7 said, works with the iPad, will work for MS Flight too if done right.Cheers,- jahman.

We all should badger MS about if a SDK will be released and when in relation to Flight's release. If there is to be no SDK we can write off flight..... IMO.Flight may have some brisk sales at it's initial release but, it will soon be in the "bargin bins" if there wiil be no 3d party add-ons.When all is said in done, it's still just a computer game. I'll be damned if I bow down to MS' corporate greed!