Does anyone remember New Coke back in 1985???http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_CokeCompany headquarters in Atlanta started receiving letters expressing anger or deep disappointment. Over 400,000 calls and letters were received by the company, including one letter, delivered to Goizueta, that was addressed to "Chief Dodo, The Coca-Cola Company". Another letter asked for his autograph, as the signature of "one of the dumbest executives in American business history" would likely become valuable in the future. The company hotline, 1-800-GET-COKE, received 1,500 calls a day compared to 400 before the change. A psychiatrist Coke hired to listen in on calls told executives some people sounded as if they were discussing the death of a family member.

Not equivalent.

Wrong forum.

I was thinking the exact same thing about how Flight is following the path of New Coke.You had the die-hard Coca-Cola fan (long term Flight Sim Fans) that loved the historic formula. But Coke saw they were losing market share with the younger customers that were migrating to Pepsi (gamers). So they abandoned their long term formula and produced the sweeter New Coke. The New Coke was a good product that tasted just fine. However their long term fans boycotted it because they lost the unique flavor they've enjoyed for years. And the Pepsi fans quickly grew bored with the New Coke and went back to Pepsi.After a few months, Coke saw the light and returned to Coke Classic. That turned out so well many people think it was Coke's plan all along.So the question is, since Flight has already alienated itself with many die-hard Flight Sim fans and I expect the Flight results to be less than dazzling with the majority of the Gaming crowd, will Microsoft go back to Classic Coke with FSXI? Or just abandon the whole Flight Sim product line??

There are so many things wrong with trying to liken the two that it's hard to compare.Coke was the flagship product, Flightsim is most certainly not. Read through the article and I believe (been a long time since I read it) that Coke did extensive product testing before rolling out the new product that showed people actually preferred the taste of new Coke. MS most certainly did no such thing.

Splitting hairs. The comparison is good on many levels. This is not about the popularity of the product, but how loyal customers can react to change.

Pretty much the old Coke we drink today is not the same as the old Coke from before the early 90's. Taste is different since they took sugar out and replaced with corn syrup, liquid death,. Pretty much rather buy the Mexican Coke that is sold around here.

The old things are often the best. Old Coke, with or without the coke, old flightsims.. games, music..etc

MSF is more analogous to Coke now being sold seperately in indivdual componant ingridients which you mix together yourself to get the mix you want. But so far the only ingridents they have announced are sugar and water.

Yeah because soft drinks and computer games are exactly the same thing.

Pretty much the old Coke we drink today is not the same as the old Coke from before the early 90's. Taste is different since they took sugar out and replaced with corn syrup, liquid death,. Pretty much rather buy the Mexican Coke that is sold around here.

There is a difference as I used to make my own Coke. I bought (and custom wall mounted) a used refrigerated fountain machine with a carbonator and bought my Coke syrup and gas directly from the local Coke plant. It dispensed four different drinks. The main difference in Coke as sold today is in the quantity of syrup put in the carbonated water. Temperature is also important, because cold water gives up very little CO2 when poured. That's why dispensers have associated cooling coils as opposed to dispensing with ice. Also, those small 7 once bottles remain popular with some people because they receive the same 12 oz. size shot of syrup and that better approximates the Mexican mix (which is better). Coke syrup and/or CO2 interacts with copper and/or brass fittings and gives it a very rancid taste. These systems must therefore use plastic or S.S. fittings. There is even a warning tag on some dispenser units about this problem. I learned it the hard way.I rather go back to making Coke than going broke flying the new joke with my CH yoke.As the name says.... "Toys-R-Us"....Bob

Edited January 25, 201214 yr by Toys_R_Us