Your two friends were too busy wearing their blinders trying to find reasons to carp about what Flight isn't, and was never intended to be that they completely failed in their task to beta test what Flight is......which includes looking at ALL of what Flight offers out of the box. They also should have explored to see what Flight can become with the right download content.Am I satisfied with Flight as it stands right now? Of course not. I'll not be uninstalling either FS9 or FSX anytime soon and that's a fact! I will however, spend some time with Flight each week, if for no other reason than to help steer folks into trying FSX whenever they want a more enriching and free experience! :(

In fact they were very exited about beta testing the new game, no blinders at all, the problem is that Flight didn't reach their expectations as it is right now, and you are right it might become a great flight simulator, but at this time it is not, and for a lot of us that love the "as real as it gets", it is not an option. I really hope that this will change.

Well, that's precisely the problem! They weren't supposed to be testing Flight against "their expectations..."It was obvious from the very first announcement from MS that Flight was going to be something completely new and different from what had come before! What else could it have been?

...which includes looking at ALL of what Flight offers out of the box. They also should have explored to see what Flight can become with the right download content.

I'm sure it could be great with the right packages installed, and I'm sure Microsoft know better than anyone exactly what packages we want. I'm sure they'll be providing me with my own local aerodrome, complete with its new office, as a microtransaction just for me.Ok, sarcasm over...the reason I object to Flight is not because what we see now is missing a lot of features. It's because Microsoft want to own then "playground" and dictate who can and who can't develop, and what we can and can't change. That goes totally against the spirt of what FSX and all the previous sims were. And until that changes I'm staying firmly out of it, and will criticise Microsoft's business model, and support those business models that are open ended.