I have a quick question for the ACES folks:I'm not asking anyone to divulge anything covered by any NDA (at least I hope not), but I'm curious... does registering at the beta.microsoft.com website increase one's chances of being selected to FS beta programs?I only ask because I took the time to register there almost five months ago - immediately following the FSX announcement - hoping for a shot at participating.I've checked there regularly to see if I'd gotten an invite to any programs, but never heard anything back. Finally, my login just quit working in the last week or so.I wrote a quick note to the "help" address, and received a response today that directed me to an entirely different website where I had to re-register.Judging by context clues, I've gathered that the FSX beta is already underway and therefore closed to new participants (I'm not asking for confirmation or denial of that, btw.)Can anyone tell me if it really mattered whether I had applied there before the deadline or not? Perhaps knowing that I didn't really miss out on anything will dull the pain. ;) Thanks,Nick

>I have a quick question for the ACES folks:>>I'm not asking anyone to divulge anything covered by any NDA>(at least I hope not), but I'm curious... does registering at>the beta.microsoft.com website increase one's chances of being>selected to FS beta programs?>>I only ask because I took the time to register there almost>five months ago - immediately following the FSX announcement ->hoping for a shot at participating.>>I've checked there regularly to see if I'd gotten an invite to>any programs, but never heard anything back. Finally, my login>just quit working in the last week or so.>>I wrote a quick note to the "help" address, and received a>response today that directed me to an entirely different>website where I had to re-register.>>Judging by context clues, I've gathered that the FSX beta is>already underway and therefore closed to new participants (I'm>not asking for confirmation or denial of that, btw.)>>Can anyone tell me if it really mattered whether I had applied>there before the deadline or not? Perhaps knowing that I>didn't really miss out on anything will dull the pain. ;)>> >Thanks,>>Nick>Hal will probably talk about this at length at some point, but our Betas have generally been a mix of a two large pools: The first is a standard pool drawn from folk who test other MSFT products, the second is built from our own selected pool of FS users, add-on providers, and people we want to test some particular aspect (like ATC, or multiplayer) because they have some specific knowledge.I have no idea how the first pool is/was created.Cheers,Jason

> the second is built from our own selected pool of FS>users, add-on providers, and people we want to test some>particular aspect (like ATC, or multiplayer) because they have>some specific knowledge.Hi Jason, Since we are the minority here :) I wonder if there are any beta tester with specific knowledge of (and really interested in) helicopters, like many freeware/payware developers at www.hovercontrol.com, who could give contructive feedback on the rotorwing simulation in FSX. Thanks for taking the time to keep everybody informed!

>> the second is built from our own selected pool of FS>>users, add-on providers, and people we want to test some>>particular aspect (like ATC, or multiplayer) because they>have>>some specific knowledge.>>Hi Jason,>> Since we are the minority here :) I wonder if there are any>beta tester with specific knowledge of (and really interested>in) helicopters, like many freeware/payware developers at>www.hovercontrol.com, who could give contructive feedback on>the rotorwing simulation in FSX. >> Thanks for taking the time to keep everybody informed!>There are certainly rotor afficianados on both the team and part of the external Beta program.Cheers,Jason

<>Not the least of whom is the guy who programs the flight models. He has a helo rating on his PPL.