Let's face it, DRM (a.k.a. - Digital Rights Management) in conjunction with cloud computing (a.k.a. - dedicated servers) is the wave of the future. I suspect the Microsoft Store will be just one of the many DRM pay services starting up to protect add-on software from piracy. In this case, Developer products will be "coded" in conjunction with Microsoft products such as the new "Flight" program. In addition to selling the product, the add-on software developer pays an additional service fee to the DRM service provider for complete piracy protection.They may very well license a "pass through" to other FS related websites for the purpose of selling their core product.http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/D/DRM.htmlBob - Las Cruces, NM

Let's face it, DRM (a.k.a. - Digital Rights Management) in conjunction with cloud computing (a.k.a. - dedicated servers) is the wave of the future. I suspect the Microsoft Store will be just one of the many DRM pay services starting up to protect add-on software from piracy. In this case, Developer products will be "coded" in conjunction with Microsoft products such as the new "Flight" program. In addition to selling the product, the add-on software developer pays an additional service fee to the DRM service provider for complete piracy protection.They may very well license a "pass through" to other FS related websites for the purpose of selling their core product.http://www.webopedia...TERM/D/DRM.htmlBob - Las Cruces, NM

This might be a dumb question, but how would freeware work in this environment?

...How will MS make money with their market store if our FSX addons can be use in Flight, now that would be dumb. I myself has a lot of $$$ invested in FSX but I can't see MS allowing me the use of my FSX addons in Flight, and what about the dev. do you seriously think they would be happy about that?? ...

Look for the in-betweens: Flight could, for example, dumb itself down for compatibility with certain FSX add-ons. Additionally, while existing add-ons could run, newer add-ons for Flight would be better, more realistic, allow for higher frame rates, so you see you can have your cake and eat it too. FSX add-ons can be compatible with Flight and preserve ecosystem value and there would still be reasons a-plenty for simmers to buy newer add-ons specifically for Flight. Wasn't this always the case with previous versions of FS?As always, the formula for success in software and hardware development is to release new versions that include features from the previous versions (up to a point) while also adding new features. Heck, you could still probably run DOS 2.0 off a 4 TBy HDD on a Sandy Bridge PC at 5 GHz! :-)So I expect Flight to support FSX add-ons, especially for scenery (complex aircraft with many suppirting DLLs will be trickier perhaps?). As I said, it would be dumb not to.Cheers,- jahman.

If MS Flight is not compatible with any existing addons, then be prepared to be disappointed.

anything better than FSX CAN'T disappoint!

anything better than FSX CAN'T disappoint!

Totally agree. FSX hopefully will have had its run (FS2004 as well) and I would look forward to the majority of the Sim community moving forward to Flight.

Two points...1. Prior to the closure of ACES, work on FSvNext was well along the path towards beta testing. At that time, there was absolutely zero backwards compatibility with previous versions. Period. There were plans afoot to provide a conversion tool to ease third-party developers' efforts to update their products, but we'll never know if such a tool would have been developed, nor how well it might have worked.2. At this juncture, no one outside of MS Game Studios has been contacted or provided any information beyond what has been reported on the official MS Flight website, to the best of my knowledge. Of course, even had anyone been contacted, they wouldn't really be in a position to confirm such contact either... :(

Two points...1. Prior to the closure of ACES, work on FSvNext was well along the path towards beta testing. At that time, there was absolutely zero backwards compatibility with previous versions. Period. There were plans afoot to provide a conversion tool to ease third-party developers' efforts to update their products, but we'll never know if such a tool would have been developed, nor how well it might have worked.2. At this juncture, no one outside of MS Game Studios has been contacted or provided any information beyond what has been reported on the official MS Flight website, to the best of my knowledge. Of course, even had anyone been contacted, they wouldn't really be in a position to confirm such contact either... :(

Pertaining to the underlined and bolded statement, that would likely mean that the sim should be a significant departure from FSX. Hopefully that means the sim will look and play in a distinctly better manner than FSX and move the title to more of a leading edge experience. Looking forward to that.

Pertaining to the underlined and bolded statement, that would likely mean that the sim should be a significant departure from FSX. Hopefully that means the sim will look and play in a distinctly better manner than FSX and move the title to more of a leading edge experience. Looking forward to that.

HelloMy main worry is that this is looking more like it will be aimed at a different audience.Having no Fsuipc support and therefore not being able to program my hardware would not be a leading edge experience for me. If Peter dowson is not being kept in the loop about Flight! then it will just turn out to be a flight game after all.

HelloMy main worry is that this is looking more like it will be aimed at a different audience.Having no Fsuipc support and therefore not being able to program my hardware would not be a leading edge experience for me. If Peter dowson is not being kept in the loop about Flight! then it will just turn out to be a flight game after all.

Last month's PC Pilot mentioned that MS is looking to grow the experience and not shrink it, so I do not see them moving the title to just a game. I see them keeping it a simulator and likely creating a richer simulation feature set, as well as moving forward with the mass market appeal, which pays the bills. This mass market appeal I am guessing will be a continuation of missions, as well as updating the graphics to match modern titles. If things are pretty and easy, many casual observers will purchase the game, For the rest of us, it would only make sense to make the sim feature set as good, if not better than the current title, which I think they will.

HelloMy main worry is that this is looking more like it will be aimed at a different audience.Having no Fsuipc support and therefore not being able to program my hardware would not be a leading edge experience for me. If Peter dowson is not being kept in the loop about Flight! then it will just turn out to be a flight game after all.

Pete Dowson wasn't really kept in the loop for FSX either! The man is an institution and I would be really surprised if there wasn't an FSUIPC5.Again, IMHO Flight will be FSX + better performance (multi CPU, multi GPU) + better grahics + better aircraft + much better multi-player + Add-On Marketplace. There is no need to cut back.If MS really wanted Flight to be less instead of more, and only appeal to the masses, then they would be better-off starting from scratch and designing an "easy to fly" non-realistic "game" for a completely different audience.Cheers,- jahman.

This might be a dumb question, but how would freeware work in this environment?

They won't.

Again, IMHO Flight will be FSX + better performance (multi CPU, multi GPU) + better grahics + better aircraft + much better multi-player + Add-On Marketplace. There is no need to cut back.Cheers,- jahman.

My point from the beginning when Flight was announced, BUT to make money the dev. and MS have to have something to sell in the store. They won't make money by selling the same FSX addons for Flight as I already have them and they won't make them compatible with Flight because I already paid for them so how can they make money with me....by selling new addons only compatible with Flight (assuming I'm buying Flight).Sorry but from a business point of view FSX addons compatibility with Flight does not = money for MS or the dev.

They won't.

Why?

Pertaining to the underlined and bolded statement, that would likely mean that the sim should be a significant departure from FSX. Hopefully that means the sim will look and play in a distinctly better manner than FSX and move the title to more of a leading edge experience. Looking forward to that.

I think the only thing one could reasonably conclude is that at that particular time, with that specific team in place, and working with that specific set of code, this was the direction ACES was headed.Given that the entire ACES studio was summarily sacked, and that a caretaker crew remained in place just long enough to archive all of the code and development documentation, it's by no means certain that a new team assembled directly under the supervision of MS Game Studios have the same goals in mind...

"Pete Dowson wasn't really kept in the loop for FSX either!"Boy-O-Boy you are sure wrong with that statement!