OK everyone, As we approach the "two year" anniversary (well it is actually in July) of the RTM of FS 2004, we haven't heard ANYTHING about a new version FS 2006? FS 10 Does anybody remember the timing of events for FS 2004. Seems like if they were going to release at the two year mark, there would be some noise!Anybody heard ANTHING?Thanks!Barry:-hmmm

Based on the number of FS-related job openings posted in the past few weeks, I wouldn't be surprised if the next version won't be released until 2006, breaking the recent trend of releases every two years.

FS95 -> FS98 = 3 years.

> FS95 -> FS98 = 3 years. FS95 was not its name. It was "Flight Simulator for Windows95." But I believe that you are correct, in that the 2-year cycle did not start until FS98. R-

Hi, Msfs Timelinehttp://www.simflight.com/users/fshistory/fsh/timeline.htmThanksChris Willis[link:fsw.simflight.com/FSWMenuFsSim.html]Clouds And Addons For MsFs

My guess, for what it's worth, is that the job vacancies are for the release after the coming one i.e. they are for FS2008. I predict that FS2006 will be announced sometime in the next four weeks.Victor

This has been discussed before but, in case you didn't read it.............New technology is changing drastically changing the way our P.C's will be working.Double CPU's in tandem, 'PCI' motherboards with extensive use of 64bit graphics.These are just some of the changes in the pipeline so, Microsoft are unlikely to produce another flight-sim program within the near future until we and software suppliers all catch up with these improvements. No one would buy it if they didn't have the machine to run it on, and 'MS' is in business to make money.I would be pleasantly surprised to see any new 'FS' appear before 2007.I hope I'm wrong.All the best,Dave.'Three greens and soft landings'

ChrisThat is one heck of a good link! I guess to politically correct I started w/ FSW95.As for when FS200? comes out????? When it does.. ( More $$$ ) :-) Regards,Roman(KGRB)

If they are just now hiring people for the next version of Flight Simulator, it will be at least a couple of years before it is released. I think if that were the case, MS should at least let us know that there is not going to be a version released any time soon. That would not be that bad of news. We could all then potentially finally aquire hardware to actually run this thing with max settings, third party software, and with good framerates. Also, the third party folks would have a field day, because a lot of people, including me, would buy a lot of third party stuff to help improve FS2004, since there would not be a FS2006 to do that for us.My gut feeling, however, is that they indeed are going to release a new version in the form of a 64 bit version. FS95 was a release to move it from Windows 3.1 to Windows 95, which was a very big jump in technology in terms of an operating system. Windows 64 will be just as big a jump, and they would help promote their new version of Windows by releasing a 64 bit version for Flight Simulator. From this perspective, I see it as something like "Century of Flight and Beyond - Profession Edition: Flight Simulator 64 (FS2006)." Again, the move would be like FS95 was from FS5.1, just a move to a different platform with some improvments here and there. Besides, how well is FS2004 going to continue to sell with "2004" written on it? This is 2005. Most of the hardcore flight sim folks own it, and the casually interested folks have it too. It will soon have to be reduced to $14.95 to sell. Expect a press release concerning FS2006 on or at about the same time as they release Windows64. That's my theory.RH

FS10 or FS2006 will be released sometime this year, im sure of that.I saw a video last week where Steve Lacey a FS developer gave a guided tour at the studio in Redmond. I believe the tape was recorded in November or December 2004 and more than 60 people was on the team at that time working on FS. I cant think of one good reason Microsoft would not release a version of FS this year. Just my thoughts about this.OHN

good pointRH

Simple answer: attend the AVSIM conference in September and find out! :-lol Blatant advertising mode off. :)

Hey Tom,At least something concrete :-): no FS10 before September.MHO:- Yes, FS10 will be there.- No, not in 2005.Cheers, Rob

Personally, I would be happy to have FS10 in late 2006 rather than this year.Why? Personal computer technology seems to have slowed down a bit in the last few years. I used to do a major upgrade once a year to keep up, but CPU and graphical advancements don't seem to be progressing as fast as they used to.The graphics in FS9 are pretty far behind the state of the art. Looking at something like Doom3 or Half-life 2, there isn't really much of a comparison. The difference is that in these games you aren't looking across the world from thousands of feet in the air. There are some very special challenges for Flight Simulator graphics that can't be solved by fancy bump-mapping or lighting (though that sort of stuff might help). That said, I've had some twilight flights in FS9 through the mountains among wisps of cloud that are nearly completely immersive.I think we are on the cusp of some advances in PC technology. I think the next gen consoles are going to force the issue. These things, by early accounts, are going to be massively powerful and the PC is going to need to play some catch-up to set the pace.I've got a pretty good machine right now, and I am not interested in an upgrade for at least the next 18 months. FS9 runs great ... I know that FS10 probably won't. I'd much rather see Microsoft give us a revolution for FS10 than another feature upgrade. As a casual VFR flyer, perhaps I put too much of a focus on graphics, but I eagerly anticipate the day when MSFS scenery is nearly indistinguishable from reality ...I hope that FS10 is a step in that direction.Which, to go slightly off-topic, brings me to one new item on my FS10 wish list ... widescreen support for a better sense of peripheral vision ... Dell just came out with a 24" widescreen LCD monitor at $1,200 ... prices are dropping on these things at a pretty rapid pace. I read a review that said the screen is so large you have to actually pan your head around a bit too see everything. In a couple of years if prices get to around $600 or $700 (or less ... who knows), I'd be snapping up one of these things without hesitation.

I'm guessing there will be no upgrade until the client-server model appears. This would depend on super high bandwidth internet connections, which I understand is coming in the next couple of years. A quote from Bell South:Duane Ackerman, chairman and CEO of BellSouth, and Mark Feidler, the company's new chief operating officer, last week outlined BellSouth's broadband evolution at the company's analyst day in New York City. The strategy focuses on beefing up existing DSL facilities with ADSL2+ and DSL bonding techniques to scale DSL bandwidth to 24 Mb/s, enough to support HDTV-quality video. Ackerman said BellSouth also will deploy fiber to the curb but only in greenfield opportunities.With this capability, it will be possible to design a front end algorithm that can bring in real time air photo (ala Keyhole) that is elevation-dependent and has a built in autogen of the future for the 3D (synced to the air photo 2D), gps connected, and allow simmers to fly down low and get as much as 3"/pixel resolutions and get away with it. This takes huge server capacity obviously, and arguably more HD space than any of us will want to maintain, all at a subscription price of whatever/month. What you pay to fly in a virtual world that had the kind of resolution where you could literally fly low enough to see the make and year of the car parked in YOUR driveway? Hope we're all here to enjoy this . . .