Mike:>>why the developers of Flight Simulator still seem as enthusiastic about the project as ever they were, perhaps even moreso nowadays? I doubt they would invest as much time and hardwon skill if they were simply aiming the sim solely at the casual user. Clearly this is MS's intent, to keep the accountants happy, but I venture to suggest that the reality lies with end users like ourselves who really appreciate what those on the development team are trying to do. Because I'd suggest that the typical MSFS development team member probably is every bit as much of a "lost-cause FS nutter" as any of us here! $5 says those fancy HAL 9000 laptops (And wouldn't HAL make a bolshy copilot!) are just stuffed full of repaints, new aircraft and photo-realistic scenery downloads. And THAT is why they're spending their weekends and lunchbreaks working on SDK's that MS don't feel are part of the job spec. Now, mix in a few developers screaming at them to get their colective fingers out and work faster, and just how keen are they going to be to put in that effort, when so much of it goes to making it easier for other copmpanies to make products that profit from MSFS' success, but make no money for MS ?Richard

Richard,"And THAT is why they're spending their weekends and lunchbreaks working on SDK's that MS don't feel are part of the job spec"...... then perhaps it is now time for the powers that be to show a modicum of vision by accepting that the SDKs are now as important to the future development and survival of Flight Simulator as these forums and file libraries clearly are to those members of the development team. Not hard really, is it?Mike

>For whatever it's worth, the latest sales flyer from Micro-Center (national puter store) has FS9 for $39.And wouldn't HAL make a bolshy copilot!

Mike:>>then perhaps it is now time for the powers that be to show a modicum of vision by accepting that the SDKs are now as important to the future development and survival of Flight Simulator as these forums and file libraries clearly are to those members of the development team. Not hard really, is it?Sorry, Mike, but to the "powers that be", they are NOT important to the future development and survival of MSFS. The ease of writing add-ones for MSFS does not enter into the buying decision for 99% of MSFS purchasers. Most of those purchasers don't even know add-ons exist. The complete loss of the ability to write add-ons would be crushing to this community, but probably wouldn't affect MS' mass market at all.Other gaming companies don't even make it possible to write add-ons for their products! My sons are both very keen players of a computer game called "Diablo", for which many developers had written additional items of armour, weapons, spells etc, for the characters to use (It's a 1st person rpg). When Blizzard discovered this, they patched the game so that these items can no longer be loaded into newer versions, and so that older versions with non-Blizzard features won't work in the online arenas where most players go.

Richard,"The complete loss of the ability to write add-ons would be crushing to this community, but probably wouldn't affect MS' mass market at all.".....well, if that did happen, I for one would turn my back on further releases of Microsoft Flight Simulator and, I suspect, untold thousands of others would too. Such a scenario would tear the heart out of the simulator and its long established supporting community. The absence of addons on the store shelves would soon spell out messages loud and clear to the mass market that Microsoft no longer cared, the hay days of the legendary simulator were over and the buying public would be better spending their money elsewhere. Enthusiasm for further real development would slowly die as programmers lost their spark and forums such as this would become wastelands of disinterest and expressions of what might have been. Surely nobody would wish such events to occur, which is why I would encourage the rekindling of your fighting spirit to join us in supporting the cause before it is too late! Mike