I think we are all, more than fortunate that Flight Simulation exist's at all. So a big thank you, to everyone that has contributed to this wonderful hobby.

Hi Ryan.. Here's another who absolutely loves FSX. I have been using FS since that version 1 - I have bought every copy sincethat floppy (except v2 for the Atari), and I have really enjoyed each one,until the next version was released, which I went on to enjoy even more.I still recall that fantastic upgrade to EGA from CGA with FS3.. ..and now we have FSX, which in my view is superb...and the 737NGX - what a fantastic product. I really look forward to perusing the FSX threads each day, and, thanks toAVSIM and all these very knowledgeable contributors I learn a lot, fixquite a few problems, adjust here and there, and generally get back a lotof useful information from these forums. Some of the humourous posts getme laughing a lot too. ...and some make me very sad also, seeing todays news re OPA's passing. When I can take off in a very realistic PA-28 from my 'local', fly around andsee my house & garden under me, make my approach over my local moving roadtraffic to land on an airfield from which I have flown many times in a similaraircraft with a pilot friend of mine, well.... Knowing how much number crunching is taking place to give me those results.I think that ACES has done a magnificent job in producing such a wonderfulprogram - to enable me to reach my dream - to fly the big iron, or a fastfighter how and where I want to, and on a destop computer at that. I'd hateto have to spend $15m to buy a 'proper' sim.. I'd also hate to add up what I've spent over these 25 or so years on thehardware to use on FS, but it has been worth it. Just Flight PA-28 ArcherPiper PA28R ArrowNemeth Design EC135 EurocopterCS 767CS Hercules C130PMDG 737NGX Thanks to Microsoft and AVSIM !RegardsBillC0.9nm SW R03 EGOW

FSX is amazing and continues to improve with some of the best add-ons ever created. Plus, now we finally have the hardware that can run FSX superbly.

I'm gonna burst the bubble here a little bit. When you consider its been 20 years between the first and 2nd screen , the progress is nice, but short of amazing. The recent progression has slowed, between FS3, and FS2004 we averaged about 2 years between releases. We went 3 years between FS9, and FSX, and it looks to be at least 6 years between FSX, and MS Flight. We are definitely behind the progress curve , and in catchup mode regarding FS. Imagine what FS would have been like today, had they been able to maintain the early rate of progress. Regards.Ernie.

I think the early rate of progress was so much easier to accomplish because the resolution was so very crude. In order to move from simple 2D line graphics to what we see now is so many order of magnitude more it's hard to even compare. To double the total simulation resolution in the old days made a serious dent in visuals--now you have to do a lot more than double the resolution to give the appearance of significant improvement, because we already enjoy photographic realism, nearly, and total simulation complexity. There comes a point at which doubling the thruput doesn't yield double the experience. Noel

I think you have to thank Bill Gates. He was the one who brought Flight Simulator to Microsoft and made it better. It became the high bar that PCs had to jump to. No other company could have done that, except maybe IBM. Funny, when Bill retired, Microsoft booted Flight Simulator. Someone made then bring it back, Bill maybe? Dave

I'm gonna burst the bubble here a little bit. When you consider its been 20 years between the first and 2nd screen , the progress is nice, but short of amazing. The recent progression has slowed, between FS3, and FS2004 we averaged about 2 years between releases. We went 3 years between FS9, and FSX, and it looks to be at least 6 years between FSX, and MS Flight. We are definitely behind the progress curve , and in catchup mode regarding FS. Imagine what FS would have been like today, had they been able to maintain the early rate of progress. Regards.Ernie.

:) I don't know...I can't really agree with that, I think progress has been staggering.Maybe it's our expectations of progress that have progressed :)Or maybe it could just be that old FS 100 mile far clipping plane that's holding us back ;) and always will.Set that to 5 or less, like the big boys do, and it'll be a fair fight.But you raise an interesting point - how much time was actually lost between FSX and Flight?