Given the age of the current version of Microsoft's Flight Simulator 2004, how many of you fine flight simulator enthusiasts out there will base the success of the upcoming AVSIM conference on how much information can be coaxed from Microsoft concerning FS2006 or FS2007 or whatever the next version will be? I think that is a fair question. RH

I think Microsoft will give the same information about upcoming releases as they did in Blackpool earlier this year=nothing at all.But i have no doubt the conference will be a success anyway.OHN

I am going, and to be perfectly honest, I personally am happy with the way my FS9 is wokring at present. Change to FS 10, buy new PC, all new add-ons, new scenery, aircraft, etc........ That's alot of money to spend to replace something that is currently working pretty well. If my add ons are compatible with the new version and it doesn't take a $4,000 Pentium 8 Ghz machine to run it, and I might be interested in upgrading.

Microsoft will certainly not be pushed as to when and where they decide to reveal any information on any future version of FS, or any patch, or whatever. It may amuse you to know that we honestly didn't know that Microsoft were going to announce the FS2004 patch until they actually did so in their presentation.So, I think it would be unfair to measure the 'success' of any conference or exhibition based on this yardstick -- indeed I suspect that the Blackpool conference may have been unfairly lambasted on this count.

If FS2004 were not so old and people were not so anxious about news concerning the next version, then it certainly would be unfair to measure the upcoming conference in terms of the presence or absence of information regarding FS200X. At this point, I don't think people are expecting anything from MS about it due to the lack of information from Blackpool. So, I don't think the AVSIM conference is under the same pressure. However, the question will be asked by a number of people, and pehaps additional information can be gleaned from the way MS chooses to answer it. Because sites like Avsim.com are leaders in spreading the popularity of MS flight simulation, one would expect at least a few additional crumbs to fall AVSIM's way. RH

>If FS2004 were not so old and people were not so anxious>about news concerning the next version, then it certainly>would be unfair to measure the upcoming conference in terms of>the presence or absence of information regarding FS200X. It certainly would! What poppycock! Why on earth should such an announcement, or lack of it, reflect on Avsim?FS2004 old? It was only released in July 2003. That's OLD?!There are plenty of previous threads on this subject, anyway. When it comes, it comes.Mark "Dark Moment" BeaumontVP Fleet, DC-3 AirwaysTeam Member, MAAM-SIM[a href=http://www.swiremariners.com/cathayhk.html" target="_blank]http://www.paxship.com/maamlogo2.jpg[/a]

Whether or not MS decides to release further information on FS200X should not reflect on AVSIM, just as it should not have reflected on the Blackpool convention. However, concerning Blackpool, it apparently did. See Matt Johnson's post above. I am sure it will be a great convention in San Diego, but for many of the rest of us, we will be anxiously awaiting news from that convention regarding any new information about the upcoming version of Flight Simulator.We have passed the normal two year cycle of Flight Simulator releases from MS without even official news of a new version, which usually comes months before its release, so FS2004 is old in terms of releases from MS, very old! RH

here's the funny bit:my shrink calls m

Maybe quotes like this in the advertising didn't help Blackpool"Microsoft is the official sponsor of IFC 2005, and we can announce that there will be one or two big surprises in store that you just can't afford to miss." Perhaps they should have said something like"Microsoft is the official sponsor of IFC 2005. We can also announce that there will be one or two (non Microsoft) big surprises in store that you just can't afford to miss."

I hope we are able to get more information out of the 'Technology growth & trends, and what this means to Flight Simulator' session during the AVSIM 2005 Conference and Exhibition noted below.Microsoft FS Team To Attend AVSIM 2005 Conference and ExhibitionPosted: Saturday, August 20, 2005 - 16:33 by AVSIM staff:Members of the Microsoft Flight Simulator Development Team will be in full attendance at the AVSIM 2005 Conference and Exhibition next month in San Diego. Hosted by the famous San Diego Aerospace Museum, the event will include vendor displays (including Microsoft's) and presentation sessions on both Saturday and Sunday. Microsoft's team will be participating in the presentations, and will put forward a full two hours of discussion on a variety of flight sim related topics. Question and answers periods will occur during the sessions. Topics to be covered in the Microsoft Presentations include:Flight Sim SDKs for Dummies: A broad level review of what