Well, I work for one of the largest companies in the Netherlands (ING Group) and all that is said about the large companies here is so true. We have to sign a non-disclosure contract which basicly tells us not to talk about our work, the company and anything else related at any time. My luck is that I don't have that affinity with my work as the MSFS team does so frankly said I don't care if I'm not allowed to talk. I don't feel the urge to write something in return when ING is attacked at a forum or so. But I do understand that the MSFS does want to comment and that it hurts like hell to not be able to comment on rants about your own team and product. I keep myself on the background and don't communicate much like Jeff, but that doesn't mean that I'm not up to date with things and happenings. There are alot of people in this community who I'd love to meet in person, have a chit chat on a nice sunny day, but the fact is that I don't have that much time. I will have that free time in a year or so. So Jeff, how about that company meeting. Invite everyone we know! :)And for what it's worth to you guys (MSFS Team, PMDG, Flight1, Reality XP, Posky, IFDG, and all you other developers): Top class work!PS: Kevin, I know you read this thread so I take this oppertunity to express my wish for a feature in FS. :DThat's an extensive crashmodel for the aircraft MDL. Things like deforming propblades, individual parts that can come of, engine fire, etc... Something like IL-2 forgotten battles idea. ;)

Good to see there is a nice sensible thread going on here...well it's 09:33 am and I haven't slept yet (just been talking to Jeff etc) and decided to reply here...nothing long...What Jeff said about the whole family thing is really true...it is quite unique...when I find myself trying to explain to non-simmers what the 'FS community' is they just don't get it...and especially they don't understand the scale of it. The great works of FS has given us a great community that we should really value. And it's right to start educating people rather than flame wars (which seems to be the ultimate fate of many forums). I sympathise with some of the frustrations the team at FS must feel sometimes and not being able to repsond to everyone....anyway...can't think of anything much else to say...got LCY on the brain...And Jeff don't forget the company meeting...and what the hell...invite everyone...maybe could even become a special FS Development convention lol that would be a new one...also we gotta have the meeting cus I did promise Alex I would go over to AMS to meet up again and I haven't been able to yet...PS Alex about the crash thing..didn't we talk about something else a while ago? Namely opening the doors during mid flight...door gets ripped off..all hell breaks lose...lolOlz.Lead Scenery Designer - OSSO.J.Minchin@onlinesimulationsolutions.comwww.onlinesimulationsolutions.comLondon, UK

Special Dev Meeting. MSFS guys giving special seminars, nice BBQ, socializing, exchanging knowledge, etc... oooh goody! :D@Oli: Yeh, we did, but I don't know if we can simulate that... It would be cool though. Also, parashuting and walking in the sim would be kewl :( To be able to land, walk over to another parked craft and take off/ drive it...

You guys know that's one of our goals. To be able to get everyone we can together in one spot. :-)Nice 3 hour chat last night with Kev, btw. I got no sleep before having to go into work today...lol

hmm, would probably be dangerous. That mass might collapse in on itself creating a black hole on the surface of the earth :-lol

Jeff,There are very few people on these Avsim forums I would take at there word when they said 'I have talked to someone from inside of MS,' and you are one of them. I think its great that MS pays attention to Avsim, and other major FS sites. I hope they can gather useful information to make FS more tailored for us.

Fred,Thanks for the nice comments.I'll just make a few more observations and then I'll let this whole thing alone as I think we've made the point now.It's really easy to make things sound alot more complicated then they really are. The reality is; you have a group of people who are fortunate enough to get paid for doing something they love. I think that's something we all wish we could do. Some other interesting tid bits from our 3 hour convo last night...lol. I think that we would be very surprised to find out just how much of the sim is actaully "your" sim. :-) If any of you have even made a passing remark about a feature that you would like to see, or a complaint, or liked a particular feature about FS, chances is are it was physically noted by some member of the FS team. Then you also have 3rd party devers also passing on information from customers to the FS team in the beta forums as well.Again, thanks to all for your understanding. Get back to having fun :-)

lol @ jwenting...I think it would be a nice idea tho...btw I did mention a little nice feature I would like in the simflight forums a while back but I'll mention here again just in case ; )okay it was basiclly to have a section of the game with 'sim within a sim' lol..maybe part of the ATPL training...a big 3D hydraulic sim...maybe the scenery graphics could be a little different...the VC could show instructors and control computers behind and stuff, and external view could either reveal the in-sim plane externals or the 'real' externals of the simulator in a big hangar or something...I know it's kinda a pointless thing to put in a sim but I think it would be neat hearing the instructor guy talking to you as if you were inside a sim...you could also have massive failures that you might not normally have...I think a nice side-effect of this would be that once you're done in the sim, and you get into your 'real' plane it will feel much more real...and you will want to be more correct in everything you do...sorry if that's a load of rubbish just thought it would be neat :)I have lots of ideas most of them have been sent directly though...but I'll put whatever comes up now in my head here...why don't we also have cabin announcements like safety breifings etc with various international accents...that would be a nice touch...I hate using US breifings when I'm in my easyjet plane 'it's against federal law to blah blah blah'...lol..I would rather hear 'hello I'm Stellios - owner of easyjet...visit my new easy internet caffee...'....UK people will get that lol...And how about something from Xplane...like bush fires...maybe could be expanded with other heli-type things...well enough typing for now...congratulations to anyone who managed to read this badly structured post without falling asleep :) just my disjointed train of thought...Olz.Lead Scenery Designer - OSSO.J.Minchin@onlinesimulationsolutions.comwww.onlinesimulationsolutions.comLondon, UK

It's certainly great to know what the actual developers who do the work are like, so thank-you so much for your posting!I never ever believed that it was the developers who were necessarily at fault. I had a hunch that their hands are basically "tied" behind their backs by their VP-MANAGER-Microsoft marketing department etc...It is the decisions that these higher-ups make that dictate how simulations are made (I always like to refer to FS2004 as a simulation, NOT a game). I wonder, though, if these developers, after seeing the feedback from forums such as this one, can make some constructive criticism to their bosses about what the Flight Simulator public wants and actually have this feedback be implemented in the next release of Flight Simulator?John

Some of the aspects of your comments are being listened to, yes, and have been brought to their attention. That's about all I can say about that. Sorry to have to be vague.