History repeats?

[dighost 25]

There was a game that was loved by many, in fact it had a community much like Flight Simulator. The game was called "Ants", and the brainchild behind that was Joshua Howard (who is now behind Flight). Joshua, if you are reading this, please take your own advice as you gave the "Ants" community and help to make "Flight" be the best it can. Here is a quote from an interview Howard game, along with a link to the entire transcript-- in response to the future of Ants....."Jason_Cook> Right... and what happens to Ants? The community wants to support it, as mentioned by the antsdev project mentioned by the previous poster. Even if Zone.com is not willing to give any development time to it...+joshuah@zone> I am disappointed that we could not find a way to leverage the great community support the game has; when Ants needs to be taken down it will come down."http://zone.msn.com/en/general/article/genantschattranscript0904.htm

[DAD 2,667]

he did what? ants? ants like flee or wait, flies. Ah, flies. that might qualify him for heading flight. make sense.

[dburne 2]

Well guys,A little over 3 years ago, MS shut down the Aces team. Later, they sold the core FSX technology to Lockheed Martin.For all intents and purposes, MS was out of the civilian flight sim market. The general consensus was, there would be no more from MS. The future rested, with the others that were out there developing a civilian flight sim, along with the 3PD's developing new content for FSX...Like it or not, MS along with JH has brought a new civilian flight sim to the market. Many thought we would never see that. Not a bad thing.I suspect, MS future with the civilian flight sim market, rests in the level of success with Flight. And right now, that lead is JH.So we can only hope, through his direction, the franchise continues on. We don't even know, if not successful, they would even give someone else a chance at taking over the lead versus killing flight simming off for good for MS.The next several months if nothing else, will certainly be very interesting for us.

[kludger 7]

Thanks, interesting past history on Mr.Howard, that chat transcript is consistent of the corporate tone and non-answers in his Flight interview, and it shows a track record of disregard for a loyal community of users.I wonder if his dislike for his current "hardcore simmer" customers was born from his experience disappointing the "hardcore antsers" of the past, they probably gave him lots of grief when Ants was eventually killed.If nothing else it at least helps me understand why someone in charge of Microsoft's great civilian flightsim legacy would make some of the decisions and attitude he has, though it is interesting the resume/experience of the person Microsoft chose for this, let's just hope he does better with Flight than he did with Ants.

[Great Ozzie 101]

Later, they sold the core FSX technology to Lockheed Martin.

Don... I do not think this is an accurate statement.

[dburne 2]

Don... I do not think this is an accurate statement.

Ah, then I may have something way wrong there, that was my perception on how Lockheed now has Prepare 3D?

[DAD 2,667]

Like it or not, MS along with JH has brought a new civilian flight sim to the market. Many thought we would never see that. Not a bad thing..

ok. Don, I see your point. I did not want to attack JH in person though I have to admit I am a little upset these days again. I will leave my comment above as a light hearted joke and assuming that JH will push hard for Alaska with a decent twin engine included I will rather blameMS marketing again as despite all the harsh words - and I don't mean mine but rather those on Facebook and their own website - there is again not one single word from MS. I mean so many complaints and they could so easily take the wind out of everybody's sails by giving a timeline and roadmap, at least for the short term. Last time this happened they suddenly released Flight. Maybe they will now suddenly release Alaska...

[dburne 2]

Maybe they will now suddenly release Alaska...

Ya never know, it is the one month anniversary and as of yet not even the Zero is available...

[Great Ozzie 101]

"In late 2009, Lockheed Martin and Microsoft entered into an agreement that allows Lockheed Martin to further develop Microsoft^® ESP™, which was originally designed for flight applications. Lockheed Martin will also modify Microsoft ESP™ to enable its use for ground environments to better train military forces and civil agency missions such as disaster preparedness."http://www.lockheedmartin.com/us/news/press-releases/2010/may/Prepar3DPressRelease.html

[dburne 2]

"In late 2009, Lockheed Martin and Microsoft entered into an agreement that allows Lockheed Martin to further develop Microsoft® ESP™,

Well not sure if I understand all that speak on the link there, but obviously I stand corrected on that statement - thank you!

[DAD 2,667]

Ya never know, it is the one month anniversary and as of yet not even the Zero is available...

even worse the whole server is not available for hours now

[n4gix 4,969]

If nothing else it at least helps me understand why someone in charge of Microsoft's great civilian flightsim legacy would make some of the decisions and attitude he has, though it is interesting the resume/experience of the person Microsoft chose for this, let's just hope he does better with Flight than he did with Ants.

I'm not sure that's a fair assesment of what actually happened. I got the distinct impression that the major "problem with Ants" was with the multi-player platform on which it was hosted, and not something that was within Mr. Howard's control. This is always going to be a problem with any game that depends on a third-party to achieve its base functionality. Look at FSX and its reliance on GameSpy for example.With Flight on the other hand, MSGS has taken control of multi-player away from any third party and is instead handling it in house...

[enamel 4]

That quote is really out of context, they were not asking for 3rd party support, they were asking for the source code for the game itself to be gifted to the community since MS was sunsetting it.

[dburne 2]

even worse the whole server is not available for hours now

The server is now available - however still no Zero listed as available for purchase/download...

[RichLP 32]

even worse the whole server is not available for hours now

Clearly it's overwhelmed by the deluge of users downloading the Zero... ; )