MS view on addons in june 2008

[simmerhead 885]

From the FS Insider website:Add-On Developers Make Us Look Good ... Again!June 20, 2008Inarguably one of the best things about the Flight Simulator series (and, arguably, one of the best kept secrets) is its extensibility. Aircraft, scenery, missions, utilities, virtual airlines ... you name it, somebody has added it to Flight Simulator. A friend of mine refers to it as the only piece of software he owns that gets upgraded every single day. One group of people that always goes above and beyond in terms of expanding the hobby is a group of scenery designers called Flight Ontario. Specializing—as you've guessed—in the greater Ontario area, they do wonderfully detailed renditions of airports big and small.But that's not all they do. They also pack up computers and people and joysticks and things and set up Flight Simulator demo stations at seemingly every aviation event north of the US and east of Manitoba. I'm humbled by their dedication, grateful for their contributions, and always a little embarrassed that we can't do more to help. Their most recent demo was at an open house at Vintage Wings of Canada in Gatineau, Quebec. VWOC is home to a beautiful collection of old airplanes that, like our local Flying Heritage Collection, are flown regularly. They've got a Mustang, a Spitfire, a Hurricane, and even a Fairey Swordfish, to name but a few. Check out the photos from the event here.Our ongoing appreciation goes out to everyone at Flight Ontario for building great scenery and for bringing the world of flight simulation to so many people!

[ahuimanu 50]

From the FS Insider website:Add-On Developers Make Us Look Good ... Again!June 20, 2008Inarguably one of the best things about the Flight Simulator series (and, arguably, one of the best kept secrets) is its extensibility. Aircraft, scenery, missions, utilities, virtual airlines ... you name it, somebody has added it to Flight Simulator. A friend of mine refers to it as the only piece of software he owns that gets upgraded every single day. One group of people that always goes above and beyond in terms of expanding the hobby is a group of scenery designers called Flight Ontario. Specializing—as you've guessed—in the greater Ontario area, they do wonderfully detailed renditions of airports big and small.But that's not all they do. They also pack up computers and people and joysticks and things and set up Flight Simulator demo stations at seemingly every aviation event north of the US and east of Manitoba. I'm humbled by their dedication, grateful for their contributions, and always a little embarrassed that we can't do more to help. Their most recent demo was at an open house at Vintage Wings of Canada in Gatineau, Quebec. VWOC is home to a beautiful collection of old airplanes that, like our local Flying Heritage Collection, are flown regularly. They've got a Mustang, a Spitfire, a Hurricane, and even a Fairey Swordfish, to name but a few. Check out the photos from the event here.Our ongoing appreciation goes out to everyone at Flight Ontario for building great scenery and for bringing the world of flight simulation to so many people!

"... I'm thinking of better times..."

[Guest jahman]

always a little embarrassed that we can't do more to help.

Does that include releasing the Flight SDK? :Big Grin:Cheers,- jahman. Edited January 15, 2012 by jahman

[garsands 0]

That just goes to show that money talks a lot louder than words.If FLIGHT flops and fails to capture the target audiences' five minute attention span and doesn't produce the DLC sales and revenue volume the VPs have projected then MS will have no choice but to give out a free SDK in hopes that the 3PD might be interested in reviving it. And we will be standing there ready to take back a cheating lover (FLIGHT 2012) for sloppy seconds.

Welcome to Flight Ontario. The home of freeware Canadian scenery designers for Microsoft Flight Simulators. Yes the good old days just the way the MS FSX SDK was ment to be used to make freeware software not to make money off the back of MS & in some cases alot of money as we all know.It's funny out all the 100's of games over the year's & the 100's of software made by 3PD wonder why the FSX 3PD thought they would put a price on there software while 100's of others did not & they did it all free in the spirt of the community.what's the bet MS was not expecting that to happen,& you still wonder why there's no free SDK for MS Flight this time round.Just think if 3PD never charged anything in the first place for there software, & did not make a risky business on the back of a SDK that they have no control over when the owner of it (MS) can take it all away from them as fast as they gave it to them, never charged anything in the first place then they would now be falling over themselves to work on MS Flight as for the first time ever they would be getting paid for there work.Do you really think MS released the FSX SDK to be used by (some) 3PD to make big profits from it with no return.

[Guest jahman]

MS was "milking the cow", now there is not enough food to eat and MS has to resort to slaughtering the cow.

That short-temr proft strategy is called pandering to the financial analysts (a.k.a. "I want my stock options to be worth more before I cash them in") and has been the bane of many a corporation's performance (as in Airbus unit aircraft sales whopping Boeing's in 2011.)Cheers,- jahman.

[Bread Hammer 1]

I don't mind 3PD charging for their products. I highly doubt we'd have orbix PNW or PMDG 737 quality addons for free.

[simmerhead 885]

Do you really think MS released the FSX SDK to be used by (some) 3PD to make big profits from it with no return.

YES, and here's why:1) There payware market was allready substantial with FS2004.2) The SDK isn't a tool for amateurs, the share of FSX user that can take advantage of it is microscopic. If MS intended the SDK for freeware only they should have made simpler tools, like Instant Scenery.3) MS could have made their own addons if they thought there was a lot of money in this market, but there isn't. If you want to be a FS developer, don't quit your day job!4) The SDK wasn't free. You had to pay extra for the pro/deluxe version. Edited January 16, 2012 by simmerhead