If they'll ditch freeware developers in few years there won't be a product to sell in their store.Railworks is good example - they use Steam, Flight will use GfWL. RailSimulator.com sell their own addons and selected 3rd party addons under RailSimulator.com brand, but there are freeware tools for everyone who want to use them.Or they'll go AppStore route - both payware and freeware addons will have to go through GfWL marketplace, and you won't be able to install anything in a different way.All these are just an assumptions. We have to wait for more info.

If they'll ditch freeware developers in few years there won't be a product to sell in their store.Railworks is good example - they use Steam, Flight will use GfWL. RailSimulator.com sell their own addons and selected 3rd party addons under RailSimulator.com brand, but there are freeware tools for everyone who want to use them.Or they'll go AppStore route - both payware and freeware addons will have to go through GfWL marketplace, and you won't be able to install anything in a different way.All these are just an assumptions. We have to wait for more info.

You may be right, it's all speculations, having free addons been subject to the same screening as the payware one to make sure they will all play nice together and be sold from the same store can be acheived but will it be? $$$

You may be right, it's all speculations, having free addons been subject to the same screening as the payware one to make sure they will all play nice together and be sold from the same store can be acheived but will it be? $$$

Yes, it will be. Every MMORPG lets players add their own stuff for the benefit of the rest. As you point out, requiring add-ons to flow through the Marketplace store makes sense to ensure quality: It's not smart to spend a lot of money to release a bug-free simulator to then have the Flight expereince soiled by faulty add-ons that crash the sim, slow it down or muck-up the Flight install dumping and replacing original files in every Flight directory as they see fit (as is currently the case with many Add-Ons for FSX).Of course this could also be achieved without Marketplace via a free certification program, so only code-signed Add-Ons would be recognized by Flight. In this manner third party Add-On stores could be preserved (and they should be.)Cheers,- jahman.

with a lot of companies having signed NDF, maybe Microsoft is telling these companies that they can release their products on the MS online store and that MS gets a cut for that product, in return, the 3rd party company gets to sell through a system that helps prevent illegal copies by linking the flight purchase with the 3rd party software (saving them money from piracy ) . I'm just thinking that MS had all these companies sign NDF but was it because they were supplying them the format for Flight or because of the way they are going to let 3rd party seller's interact with Flight.

No one seems to have mentioned the possibility that FLIGHT may be simply an "App" designed to run on devices such as the Apple IPad or Blackberry Tablet. No PC needed. Nor Yokes, pedals et al! Just a thumb!The market for such an app would likely be vastly larger than for a traditional FS product.Scenery would be the primary goal, not especially aircraft systems & flight characteristics.Imagine sitting in an airport terminal and running a parallel flight to the one you are about to board!And there would be a large demand for scenery addons to be sold at an MS "Store".There are vastly more air travellers than us few hard core simmers.AR

Imagine sitting in an airport terminal and running a parallel flight to the one you are about to board!And there would be a large demand for scenery addons to be sold at an MS "Store".There are vastly more air travellers than us few hard core simmers.AR

I think if you are sitting at an airport flying a virtual version of the flight you are about to board you qualify as a hard core simmer.

...Always keep in mind that this time the dev.(mabe not all of them) are in bed with MS since the beginning, it was a surprise to us to see MS coming out with Flight after closing Aces but not a surprise to the dev., there is no way in hell you'll convince me that the dev. did not know that ahead of time...

"...it was a surprise to us to see MS coming out with Flight..." There’s some irony in this statement :smile:Relief yes, but not surprise.The press release that came on the heels of the closure said, MS was continuing the franchise - inside MSG.The issue was many didn’t believe them – dev’s included.There was huge debate at the time, and the naysayers were wrong.Many members here wrote near-essays on this topic. :(

I think if you are sitting at an airport flying a virtual version of the flight you are about to board you qualify as a hard core simmer.

:( tooo freeking funny.

I think if you are sitting at an airport flying a virtual version of the flight you are about to board you qualify as a hard core simmer.

But what if it is essentially a traveller's tour guide, executing without "pilot input"? A "TRAVELOG KINDLE"!But also being capable of some basic airplane control via "thumbs". Remember that early FS versions used only the numeric Keypad for control of the plane!The answer lies with the application mode that is most profitable for MS. And we HARDCORE types are a pretty small market. Remember that Flight Simulator was killed dead until the announcement of Flight.AR

But what if it is essentially a traveller's tour guide, executing without "pilot input"? A "TRAVELOG KINDLE"!But also being capable of some basic airplane control via "thumbs". Remember that early FS versions used only the numeric Keypad for control of the plane!The answer lies with the application mode that is most profitable for MS. And we HARDCORE types are a pretty small market. Remember that Flight Simulator was killed dead until the announcement of Flight.AR

Your idea does make sense since MS want to reach a bigger market (moms and dads).Flight should be (IMHO will be) available to whom ever want to use it on their own device regardless of us hardcore simmers.Flight will also be customizable for us hardcore simmers using rigs powerfull enough to mutate our DNA by staying to close to it.

Your idea does make sense since MS want to reach a bigger market (moms and dads).Flight should be (IMHO will be) available to whom ever want to use it on their own device regardless of us hardcore simmers.Flight will also be customizable for us hardcore simmers using rigs powerfull enough to mutate our DNA by staying to close to it.

Just to expand on my earlier thoughts- When we visited Hawaii a few years ago, I set up the Bonanza with full screen FS9 views and mini gauges. Sitting beside my wife & using the keypad, I flew her around most of the islands to get an idea of what we might see. Very impressive- even with basic FS9 scenery.Visualize perhaps a Travel Agent using FLIGHT and some really high quality scenery, with a prospective travel client. Or a family using FLIGHT to keep the teenagers amused by "flying" in parallel with the plane they are aboard.If these ideas seem fanciful, consider what GOOGLE does with still pictures!In fact I have long wondered why we bother with windows in our homes- why not large hi/def screens instead, playing sceneries of the world- Swiss Alps, pounding surf in Hawaii, Palm trees in the breeze on Carribean islands etc.As air travel becomes ever more costly, unpleasant, uncertain and threatened by terrorism, why travel? Pull up your favourite chair and watch Flight on your big screen! Just speculating!!AR

...And we HARDCORE types are a pretty small market. Remember that Flight Simulator was killed dead until the announcement of Flight.AR

I understand what you are saying, certainly could be a profitable idea for MS to make an offshoot version for portable devices. I don't agree that Flight simulator was killed until the announcement of Flight, unless you mean the MS Flight Sim franchise in particular, because you are forgetting X-plane and others that also make up the market.

No one seems to have mentioned the possibility that FLIGHT may be simply an "App" designed to run on devices such as the Apple IPad or Blackberry Tablet. No PC needed. Nor Yokes, pedals et al!

Actually that was mentioned six months ago, and has been throughly debunked. MS Flight website is quite explicit about it being a PC title. Period. End of sentence. Fini. Fertig.

with a lot of companies having signed NDF,

I assume you mean NDA, and if so......what companies? That's just another rumor flying around (pun intended). I couldn't tell any if I had signed one, but I can certainly say I haven't!Nor, to the best of my knowledge has anyone else. We are all in the dark at this point, which to be perfectly honest annoys me no end! :(

Actually that was mentioned six months ago, and has been throughly debunked. MS Flight website is quite explicit about it being a PC title. Period. End of sentence. Fini. Fertig.-------

Fr Bill- where I live, we have a national election coming up on Monday. I can give you a 99% assurance that regardless of what the politicians promise today, it will be very different from what they DO 6 months or a year from now.But of course that is solely due to the Earth rotating ever faster! Time speeds up leaving insufficient time to carry out one's promises. I think I recall many promises that our "website is secure & can't be hacked".AR

I assume you mean NDA, and if so......what companies? That's just another rumor flying around (pun intended). I couldn't tell any if I had signed one, but I can certainly say I haven't!Nor, to the best of my knowledge has anyone else. We are all in the dark at this point, which to be perfectly honest annoys me no end! :(

:( Read the 10th post..... from Geroge.... http://www.flytampa....icrosoft+flight