Bill is stepping down from most of his duties as CEO and I wonder how this will affect the various software branches in the company. Everyone knows how short sighted some

If I read things correctly Mr Gates will remain involved in an advisory position and as "chief architect".I read that to mean he will still have overall decision power for major policy changes while withdrawing from the day to day running of the company, kinda like a constitutional monarch leaving the running of the country to a government while maintaining the power to veto their decisions if he so wishes.

Definitely a thought provoking post.RH

I'd think the public move to associated Flight Simulator with ACES last year has more to do with the simulator future than Bill's changing role.

I agree. Gates is so far from the details now that the change isn't going to make any difference at all. I doubt that anyone in the upper echelons of MS have any thoughts about the future of MSFS at all. MSFS just isn't something that any senior executive is going to spend much, if any, time thinking about.

"I agree. Gates is so far from the details now"If that's the case he sure sounds convincing speaking at those new product rollout conventions (I forgot the official term). Bill can 'over' explain the many intricacies of Windows Vista with the best of em... :-roll It's a hard sell to say he's out the loop with his company's products (games maybe but OS and Office suites 'no')...For the record I've never heard Bill officially talk about Flight Simulator. As long as this sim's been under the Microsoft logo I've never heard him speak a word about it...

He's going to be taking a smaller role, but not for two years.

I still scratch my head every time I hear someone talking about the imminent demise of the FS franchise... I fail to understand where these rumors come from...?

Wishful thinking, doomsday thinking, extrapolating from the demise of the flight simulator genre in game development companies in general, simple economics (maybe misunderstood), and combinations of the above.If and when there's no more money to be made from the franchise, or more money can be made using the resources now expended on it on something else, there's a valid economic incentive to discontinue the product line.Many competitors have made that decision in the past, which more than likely ensured that Microsoft hasn't yet had to make such a decision (or at least helped ensure it) by pushing customers towards MSFS who'd otherwise have chosen a competing product.But that's not an endless supply of customers, and as and if customer interest in the product wanes it might become uneconomical to continue to pour resources into development of that product.For example, it you spend $10 million to develop a product and another $10 million over the lifetime of the product to support and maintain it, you will need to make at least $20 million from sales and support contracts to prevent loosing money on it.Even if that $20 million investment would yield a return of $50 million, it would still be uneconomical to spend it on that product if spending it on something else would yield substantially more (say $100 million).So there's a valid concern that a product with a relatively small userbase it a product that's not secure (certainly not with a large company that's geared mostly towards bulk production and sales yielding very high volume).Of course the userbase of MSFS is larger than many people think who don't realise that the userbase of a site like Avsim is just a small percentage of the total customerbase for MSFS and may therefore make incorrect assumptions about the profitability of the product.But compared to major Microsoft products like Windows or Office MSFS is a small volume product, they are correct in that.And I think it is a small product even compared with many other Microsoft Games products (things like the Halo series).

>And I think it is a small product even compared with many>other Microsoft Games products (things like the Halo series).lol I don't know anyone who has Halo, but hundreds who have FS... FS still flies off the shelves from what I see when I'm in the store...Even though word is tha CFS3 wasn't that great, (I don't know, didn't try it), when I went looking for it the other day I couldn't find it in any store by one...I have many friends who use FS who aren't in the forums hanging out... That reminds me I should send him one of my extra copies of FS...Last I knew he was still flying FS98...

I'm just curious...Exactly how does Bill Gates stepping down from a day to day role, completely voluntary, and not amidst some major controversy amount to a big shakeup? Even after 12 years of active participation, the internet's penchant for overdramatization amazes me.

Well, you see, it has something to do with the black helicopters... Seriously, this is hardly a discussion worth the calories it takes to type. There's been almost zero conversation about Bill's decision in our hallways since he hasn't had any personal influence on our group for many, many years. That's not to say he isn't aware of what we're working on, just that our destiny is influenced by so many other factors. And a shake up? Please. He's been delegating responsibility for years.Personally I wish him well and look forward to his contibutions to the planet through the B&MG Foundation.

I think someone with some pull should invite him to fly online with us at vatsim and or ivao...I think he would enjoy the experience...and then again maybe he already does under a fictitious nameTom? :-)

lol I don't know anyone who has Halo, but hundreds who have FS... FS still flies off the shelves from what I see when I'm in the store... The first HALO has sold over 5 million units, HALO 2 had over 1.5 million pre orders AND made 125,000,000 in 24 HOURS selling 2.4 MILLION copies. http://money.cnn.com/2004/11/11/technology/halosales/ I would say that is pretty impressive eh? AND FYI, I own both HALOS :-) ...............Randy J. Smith................CAUTION! My views represent no one but my own. While I do help companies test products - this in no way means I represent them in ANY fashion.[h4]Evolution is a process that results in heritable changes in a population spread over many generations[/h4]

lol, I don't exactly know what Halo is, (some game, I know, but that's about it). I only have time for FS anyway :)Rhett