Now for a dose of "cold water..."If any FS addon sells around 3,000 copies it's considered a "Block Buster..." ;)Believe me, ain't nobody "getting rich" off of FS addons!

<>RIGHT N4gix! That is EXACTLY my point!! And you know that freeware models...some of which rival the best of the commercial add-ons but few if any of which exceed the best commercialy add-ons are downloaded from this library alone THIRTY TIMES more.Who knows to what extent a $5.00 price vs. free would dampen demand. Would it cut demand in half i.e. 50,000+ units? Would it cut demand by 80%? That sales base, roughly 20,000+ units would be a massive improvement over "Block Buster", according to your information.Even sales of just 10% of the actual downloads of some of the great freeware models would = "Block Buster" x 3.But, as the "Secret is Revealed" headline on today's front page of this forum states, it appears that the coordination between MS and the developers has been much greater than generally known.That is logical and so is the next step.Regards,Jim

<>No, not new math Bob. Just a typo as reading my post in context would have clearly suggested.Obviously, since I have been talking about a $5.00 price from the beginning of the thread, I merely neglected to incert the decimal.Sorry that confused you.Regards,Jim

>Don't forget the other big issue: Support costs.>>Most people who buy FS addons tend to be fairly "dedicated" FS>users who generally -but not always- appreciate that you need>to read the manual(s).>>Now just imagine "Walmart Bubba" as I call him, who has the>attention span of a knat, trying to tackle the PMDG 747...>>Microsoft would have to build a whole new building in Redmond>just to house the support staff needed to handle the thousands>of calls daily in which they have to explain the nuances of>Cost Indexes and Step Climbs to Joe Public.>>It would make for great comedy to be a fly on the wall in such>a suppport center, but it's just too expensive... Too many>headaches...>>>-BryanI don't see Walmart Bubba, who has the attention span of a knat, purchasing FSX in the first place. lol

>no "product liability" exposure. Very few lawsuits for virtual>airplane crashes would ever be filed! :-)>Oh geez! I see it coming now..."MSFS XI...as real as it gets...virtual lawyers included!"

<>LOL...and yes, since there have been so many virtual crashes, intentional or otherwise, I am sure there will be a virtual Class Action lawsuit filed against MS and all the add-on developers.So, I hereby modify my thesis. The price for add-ons developed in partnership with MS should be $5.50 instead of $5.00 with the 50 cents stored in a "legal defense fund."But since that actual money will never be spent on virtual lawsuits, it should be used to buy copious amounts of booze for attendees of next year's AVSIM Convention!!(-:

Hi JimNot a bad idea but -while your numbers are ok and the idea is solid, my guess is that is doesn't fit the MS business model. 2 reasons:a) There is a significant overhead in managment to pull this off properly - which makes the whole thing risky. My guess is that MS is taking this slowly, they already announced much improved support and collaboration with 3rd party developers.:( legal issues. MS is very conservative when it comes to legals, after all they are in a business where they get sued a lot (and equally sue others). What a nightmare having to deal with hundreds of add-on developers each of them adding to the potential to be sued.Bottomline, with the current risk strategy management in place at MS, I cannot see this happening....This is the kind of stuff ideal for small businesses looking for an opportunity to grow - and that's where your venture capital background fits :)Don't get me wrong, I get your point, amazon is another great example of this business model, I just can't see MS walking down that path anytime soon...Cheers,Christian

Hi Christian. I think your analysis is exactly correct. There are ALWAYS reasons and often some very good ones, for not pushing the envelope of growth and development.Why, for example, introduce the NINTH scent for Glade air freshener?But fortunately for MMM, extending their adhesive technology to the Post-It Notes made it through the corporate bureaucracy. Possibly that is one of the reasons why MMM stock is up 50% over the past 5 years while MSFT's is down about that same percentage!:-)JimPS: Again, I am NOT bashing MSFT. I actually LIKE Windows XP and will likely be a fairly early adopter of Vista. I am just encouraging debate on an issue that I feel could significantly benefit the participants in the FS hobby. I don't think there would be many votes against the availability of state-of-the-art add-ons for five bucks! Moreover, the evolving cooperative relationships between MS and some of the developers that have been recently disclosed...and which are broader and deeper than is widely known (in my opinion)...are certainly a step in the right direction.:-)