Reasons to Choose MS Flight

[alainneedle1 97]

Ya, there are no pirated versions of Win 7, Office, Vista, etc. out there right?

Jim, I said greatly reduced not completely oblirated ....and that is compared to be, or not, under MS's umbrella......seriously.

[Tierborn 191]

Minus the 30% MS cut, minus the Windows certification, minus any other hoops (yes, there will be) and you are back to 70 thousand. Now, factor in the time to do all the extra stuff and explain again why this is such a great deal for developers?

horrible math

[mgh 89]

Let say that a good developer sell 2000 (and that's a lot) of one of their best FSX add-on at $35.00 a pop ( = $70,000.00) as it is now with the exposure they have....now let say that because of the exposure they will get from MS they can sell 25,000 ( 25,000 is a small number for that kind of exposure) add-on at $5.99 a pop (remember that the price as to be attractive to the moms and pops) now the money made rise up to $149,750.00....eeeeeeee I don't think that any major dev. with a brain would pass on a deal like that, remember that a $5.99 add-on is a lot more attractive to the target market (us included) compare to the $35.00 one. Now the other side of the coin may be that if you want to add a battleship, a new paint on your 727 or a mission you may have to spend another $1.99.....just saying.

Times they are a'changing. Those who adapt will survive - those who don't ........

[HughesMDflyer4 470]

By the way, I can run FSX default on a $700.00 PC....who's is doing this here?

Me...with up to 30 steady FPS.

Now the other side of the coin may be that if you want to add a battleship, a new paint on your 727 or a mission you may have to spend another $1.99.....just saying.

I'm sure they won't nickle and dime us like that. And charging ANY money for a paint job is ridiculous and will never happen.

[alainneedle1 97]

Me...with up to 30 steady FPS. I'm sure they won't nickle and dime us like that. And charging ANY money for a paint job is ridiculous and will never happen.

Brandon, I understand where you'r comming from, you'r a tenneger going to school who probably don't have all kind of money to spend on payware or a big top of the line PC for FSX (or Flight eventually). The facts still the same, MS and the dev. are not working together to give us a free ride, they are there to make money, looking at Flight from your point of view I understand why having freeware for Flight would be important in your situation or why Flight default should look like Hawaii all over and give you 80+ FPS with all kind of HD add-ons on your computer.....I'm not here to pee on your parade but I'll say that MS will nickle and dime us like any other game's add-ons sold in their already up and running store.......the plane's paint was just one more example of what can be done, it may be able to buy a bundle of paint schemes for the same plane at $1.99...

[JSkorna 137]

horrible math

Not when you REALLY know, instead of THINKING that you know. Try and develop software for MS to sell and then let us know.

[Tierborn 191]

Not when you REALLY know, instead of THINKING that you know. Try and develop software for MS to sell and then let us know.

No way it will take on the model you are anticipating. It will adopt a model closer to the one for indie developers on steam and indie developers for apps for apple store. There is no way these indie developers have to outlay that much cash to sell an ipod app.

[JSkorna 137]

Ah, so you think they are going to set up some special rules just for us, even though in the past we needed to all follow the same rules? See, everyone thinks this idea is something new, but it isn't, and you can see how many developers bought in the first time around. How many to be exact? Zero.

[Tierborn 191]

Ah, so you think they are going to set up some special rules just for us, even though in the past we needed to all follow the same rules? See, everyone thinks this idea is something new, but it isn't, and you can see how many developers bought in the first time around. How many to be exact? Zero.

So Jim .. this is the conference room meeting you are envisioning .... "which model should we use?" "Lets use the last one .. the one that didnt work" ... "Ok boss, I will finish up the details and roll out our failed strategy" .... "Excellent, lets all go home"

[JSkorna 137]

No, this one: "We have a software certification model in place and we are not going to create a second one for our tiny little Flight Store." "Bean counters, do you agree that we need to make as much money as possible at this?" "Absolutely, if those little boys want to play with us, they are going to pay us just as much as the big boys do. If they don't want to, then tell them to take their ball and go home. We'll have Windows 8 and Office developers to support us." "Very well then, no fee breaks. Let's go play on our X Box 360s until it's time to go home."

[davethewave2 20]

So Microsoft sees fsx doing well, lets say it sold a million copies in total at $50.As most of these are purchased via the retail channel let’s assume ms makes 50% margin, i.e. $25 million Gross.Then subtract development/marketing/support costs etc and maybe we have $15-20 million left.Then Microsoft sees the fsx add on market. REX, PMDG, ORBX etc. While many players don't purchase an add-on, some purchase several. If the average consumer spends $50 on add-ons then that's another $50million of sales that Microsoft has generated. If there was an on line shop in flight then this market would be much greater, particularly if it makes the installation process easier.As far as the shop goes I believe it will be limited to certain categories. Aircraft, Re-paints, scenery and missions say. All of these modules are tightly controlled, e.g. your upload can only be made of xml/images/text files. Providing your add-on is parsed successfully developer can choose what price he wants (or free). The market place will provide feedback on quality.In summary.No extra work created for Microsoft.Users get access to a searchable/rateable library of add-ons.Add-ons easy to installMicrosoft take a % cut.The question is as a developer, what if I want to do something outside of Microsoft’s categories, a weather engine for example!

[mgh 89]

No, this one: "We have a software certification model in place and we are not going to create a second one for our tiny little Flight Store." "Bean counters, do you agree that we need to make as much money as possible at this?" "Absolutely, if those little boys want to play with us, they are going to pay us just as much as the big boys do. If they don't want to, then tell them to take their ball and go home. We'll have Windows 8 and Office developers to support us." "Very well then, no fee breaks. Let's go play on our X Box 360s until it's time to go home."

Strip out the emotive language and that scene is played out time and time again in companies all over the world. I've even taken part in it myself. The "little boys" have either to grow up quickly, change their ways, or find something else to do. It's their choice.

[alainneedle1 97]

The question is as a developer, what if I want to do something outside of Microsoft’s categories, a weather engine for example!

Don't you have to have access to the SDK to do that? A lot of peoples are assuming that it will be business as usual SDK wise but if MS want to keep control of what's happening as far as add-ons and developers why in hell will they release the SDK?? Please don't give me the "Freeware is what's keeping the franchise alive".....or "They will destroy the community without releasing the SDK" ....HELLO!!!! so nobody will buy Flight because the SDK is not released......are we the main target.....again, why should we get a free ride??? Let say the SDK is released....what's holding Aerosoft back about making scenery or planes for Flight......can it be that they would have to have access to the upload part of the MS store to sell their add-ons if they don't make a business deal with MS first and by doing so they would have to pay a % of that sale to MS......so what's good about having the SDK if you can't upload your stuff up in the store.....that is why I can't see the SDK been released to developers who will not play by MS's rules.

[Fsau 0]

A lot of peoples are assuming that it will be business as usual SDK wise...

To be honest, at this point, it's as good an assumption as any other. It's a bigger assumption to say that they wont make the SDK available to all users since I can think of many reasons this might hurt their theoretical monopoly than help it. For example, although you say that freeware isn't whats keeping the franchise alive, you have to remember that a large percentage of payware developers started out as freeware developers. In this way the freeware market is a vital part of the add-on ecosystem as it cultivates developers and acts as nursery of sorts for payware quality.

[alainneedle1 97]

To be honest, at this point, it's as good an assumption as any other. It's a bigger assumption to say that they wont make the SDK available to all users since I can think of many reasons this might hurt their theoretical monopoly than help it. For example, although you say that freeware isn't whats keeping the franchise alive, you have to remember that a large percentage of payware developers started out as freeware developers. In this way the freeware market is a vital part of the add-on ecosystem as it cultivates developers and acts as nursery of sorts for payware quality.

Yes it is almost obvious now but my "assumptions" were made a long long time ago....(look for old post of mine), you have to look at it from a dev. point of view, let say I'm a reputable dev. and I want to make a deal with MS....so knowing that I will pay them a good amount of money to be an approved dev. for Flight or a % of my sales in the store I would try to negotiate a contract with MS where I'll make sure that the SDK will not be realease to who ever can make add-ons, I'll try to keep the circle of developers for Flight as small as possible because less developers = more money to share. Again, it's a "You scratch my back and I'll scratch yours" type of deal for Flight. You are right in saying that the community started with freeware made by some very good developers, some were also asking for donations, today we have severals payware store and peoples are buying a lot of payware and that's where the money is. Like I said in my earlier post, I can understand Brandon's worries about Flight's freeware since he is a teen. in school and does not have all kind of money to spend on payware....but that does not help MS or the devs. Who knows, we may see freeware in the store like "By 3 get one free" ...just saying.