No, because if the Apple "App Store" is anything to go by, it will mean MS get absolute control of the market, on their terms, and not those of developers, which will ultimately stifle innovation, and cause developers to fall to the lowest common denominator: money. As it is, developers will spend years developing simulations because they want to produce the best they can, and charge appropriately for them. If MS are going to start taking a cut and dictating an add-on will cost no more than $5 then there will be no incentive for add-on developers to develop serious add-ons. Best regards,Robin.

No, because if the Apple "App Store" is anything to go by, it will mean MS get absolute control of the market, on their terms, and not those of developers, which will ultimately stifle innovation, and cause developers to fall to the lowest common denominator: money. As it is, developers will spend years developing simulations because they want to produce the best they can, and charge appropriately for them. If MS are going to start taking a cut and dictating an add-on will cost no more than $5 then there will be no incentive for add-on developers to develop serious add-ons. Best regards,Robin.

MS get absolute control of the market on their terms......Flight is an MS product is in it.....so they can do what ever they want with it, can't they? Since when is it not about money?? Do the math, developers selling 2000 airports for FSX at $30.00 each = $60,000.00 as it is right now or they get on board with Flight and get more exposure from MS's store (moms and pops). Developers selling Flight add-ons.......25,000 airports (because of the exposure) at $ $8.00 a pop = $200,000.00, minus what ever MS will skim of the top, is in it easy to understand, will they have more money to produce better airports..... Now don't you see that this is a win win situation for everybody, the only downside is the online play add-ons wise.

MS is a company and therefore interested in profit. I am not sure wheather aerosoft, flytampa or pmdg would be willing to pay lets say 5% per copy for Microsofts internal shop system. So they either make it free of charge for developers or just drop the plans!

Now don't you see that this is a win win situation for everybody, the only downside is the online play add-ons wise.

I wish you'd stop forcing your options on others. Requiring an internet connection to use an add-on is just stupid. The more logical thing would be to have the add-on install a key or some sort of offline activation that would let the sim know that it was legally acquired.

I wish you'd stop forcing your options on others. Requiring an internet connection to use an add-on is just stupid. The more logical thing would be to have the add-on install a key or some sort of offline activation that would let the sim know that it was legally acquired.

Surely it would be possible to key an add-on to the individual copy of Flight and to the PC (motherboard?) so that even off-line it wouldn't run without a valid key?

Surely it would be possible to key an add-on to the individual copy of Flight and to the PC (motherboard?) so that even off-line it wouldn't run without a valid key?

Yeah, maybe even something like that, too. However they do it, I'm pretty sure the add-on will have to exist on the user's computer without some form of repeated online activation after it has been bought and installed. At the time of installation should be the only time when an internet connection is required.

Yeah, maybe even something like that, too. However they do it, I'm pretty sure the add-on will have to exist on the user's computer without some form of repeated online activation after it has been bought and installed. At the time of installation should be the only time when an internet connection is required.

The add-on could be revalidated every time it was loaded into Flight.

I wish you'd stop forcing your options on others. Requiring an internet connection to use an add-on is just stupid. The more logical thing would be to have the add-on install a key or some sort of offline activation that would let the sim know that it was legally acquired.

Forcing??? Do you think I have that kind of power? I'm just looking at what will be the best way possible to protect MS and the dev's investment from piracy, you may not like or be irritated at the way it can be done but what's the best way to erase piracy as much as possible, I understand that nothing is bullet proof but starting from there what will be the best solution for them, not for us? Your or mgh ideas are not bad but are they the best for them?

...Since when is it not about money??...

It's not just about the money: It's also about forcing a minimum standard for add-on quality so your Flight installation won't get trashed by some low-quality add-on with memory leaks or that infects your Flight files by placing its own files in Flight-owned directories, or has no uninstaller to speak of (or worse, an uninstaller that unistalls incorreclty and trashes your FSX install.) Cheers, - jahman.

No, because if the Apple "App Store" is anything to go by, it will mean MS get absolute control of the market, on their terms, and not those of developers, which will ultimately stifle innovation, and cause developers to fall to the lowest common denominator: money. As it is, developers will spend years developing simulations because they want to produce the best they can, and charge appropriately for them. If MS are going to start taking a cut and dictating an add-on will cost no more than $5 then there will be no incentive for add-on developers to develop serious add-ons. Best regards,Robin.

Think it through before typing .... iphone is the most innovative smart phones on the market .. with thousand more user developed "apps" than any other smart phone brand. Where is the stifle in this scenario?

.... iphone is the most innovative smart phones on the market .. with thousand more user developed "apps" than any other smart phone brand. Where is the stifle in this scenario?

Exactly! Cheers, - jahman.

I wish you'd stop forcing your options on others. Requiring an internet connection to use an add-on is just stupid. The more logical thing would be to have the add-on install a key or some sort of offline activation that would let the sim know that it was legally acquired.

You lost me with the comment ... "requiring an internet connection to use an add-on is just stupid". Did you really mean stupid, or were you just lost for the correct word/sentence to describe your concerns?

It's not just about the money: It's also about forcing a minimum standard for add-on quality so your Flight installation won't get trashed by some low-quality add-on with memory leaks or that infects your Flight files by placing its own files in Flight-owned directories, or has no uninstaller to speak of (or worse, an uninstaller that unistalls incorreclty and trashes your FSX install.) Cheers, - jahman.

Of course it's not just about the money, a bad product will not generate any money and that is why approved developers come in to play, what I mean by approved developers is developers who will have a product who does reach what ever standard MS will set for the add-ons to be sold in the store for us not to have to deal with the above problems you mentioned and if something happend like a bug or else with a particular addon the dev. will have to release a patch to fix the problem.

Based on all the information I have, public and otherwise... I think you're all in for a very, very rude awakening regarding Flight. Based on what I know and have heard... it's first and foremost goal is to integrate with GamesForWindows which has now merged with the XBox Live! system. I do not believe Flight will be released with global scenery (hence one reason you're only seeing Hawaii in the images/videos). I do not believe Flight will be released with multiple aircraft. To get more scenery will require a subscription and/or a download of a purchased product via the GFW/XBox Live! 'store'. To get additional aircraft will require the same. Flight is being converted over as a game primarily. As in, you have an avatar and the avatar is the 'repository' of everything Flight-related for you. You will have a 'career' or some other similar concept and it will lock you in based on your current 'level'. Thus you can't just hop into Flight, grab a 787 Dreamliner and go for a flight... unless your 'career' has a high enough 'level' to 'qualify'. Of course, that's also assuming you've purchased the aircraft as well. Multiplayer will be only via subscription, no other method will be possible as Microsoft will lock that down completely. All addons will have to be approved by Microsoft. All. No exceptions. All addons will have to be purchased from Microsoft who will get a substantial cut. You think $50 is too much for an aircraft addon today... don't worry. The prices will go down with Flight... but then, about all you'll see are products from companies that just don't really care about complexity and detail. So... good luck with Flight... I think you're going to need it. One more item... 'approved developers' is an absurdity. Microsoft would fail their own standards requirements, thus any attempts on their part to enforce such a concept would fall flat. It's never worked well in the past... and it's probably not going to work well this time either.

Based on all the information I have, public and otherwise... I think you're all in for a very, very rude awakening regarding Flight. Based on what I know and have heard... it's first and foremost goal is to integrate with GamesForWindows which has now merged with the XBox Live! system. I do not believe Flight will be released with global scenery (hence one reason you're only seeing Hawaii in the images/videos). I do not believe Flight will be released with multiple aircraft. To get more scenery will require a subscription and/or a download of a purchased product via the GFW/XBox Live! 'store'. To get additional aircraft will require the same. Flight is being converted over as a game primarily. As in, you have an avatar and the avatar is the 'repository' of everything Flight-related for you. You will have a 'career' or some other similar concept and it will lock you in based on your current 'level'. Thus you can't just hop into Flight, grab a 787 Dreamliner and go for a flight... unless your 'career' has a high enough 'level' to 'qualify'. Of course, that's also assuming you've purchased the aircraft as well. Multiplayer will be only via subscription, no other method will be possible as Microsoft will lock that down completely. All addons will have to be approved by Microsoft. All. No exceptions. All addons will have to be purchased from Microsoft who will get a substantial cut. You think $50 is too much for an aircraft addon today... don't worry. The prices will go down with Flight... but then, about all you'll see are products from companies that just don't really care about complexity and detail. So... good luck with Flight... I think you're going to need it.

LMAO...yeah, right.