..the actual release should be within 2 weeks? Am I correct?PS. AFAIR, the very first release date on Amazon and EBGAmes was 10-03

MS were working towards a 3rd October release date. Not sure if this is still the case.

That (oct 3) seems to be about the 2 week timeframe.I don't really follow this stuff that much, but I remember last year, when Civ4 was released, it went GOLD and then it was on the shelf about 2-3 weeks later. So I expect about the same out of FSX.Sooner than I thought, actually.RhettAMD 3700+, eVGA 7800GT 256, ASUS A8N-E, PC Power 510 SLI, 2 GB Corsair XMS 3-3-3-8, etc. etc.

EB Games and Amazon has it listed as being released on the 17th.I'd be really suprised if it actually showed up the first week of October....actually, I'd be shocked.

I remember when FS2002 was released, on Oct 23rd. A good week and a half before it was due according to EB games, which was Nov 5th.James

Yeah but it was already delayed because of a major event that shocked the world - or am I thinking of the wrong version?Aybe

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i would think four to five weeks between RTM and public release.The boxes had to have been printed in advance - those type printings take days to dry completely.But shipping the master to the manufacturing plant, getting it in place in the production line, pressing the disks, the initial QA cycle, pressing for production, packaging and shipping.MS certainly does not have an entire plant sitting around waiting to do just FSX.Then you have shipping to merchants and distribution. Big companies like EBGames and Fry's need several days to position their stocks so they can do a release on the same day.I think Oct 17 is still optimistic - but very close.And I wanted it so much two weeks earlier for my birthday!!! :-(A pre-purchase might be more than the grandkids can handle.

>The boxes had to have been printed in advance - those type>printings take days to dry completely.Could have already been done. :) >MS certainly does not have an entire plant sitting around>waiting to do just FSX.I'm sure if they wanted to, they could indeed get a plant right away - given they expected a release in this timeframe, they probably have production options at a plant somewhere... does MS have their own production shops for CD/DVDs? An early October release would be optimistic, but not entirely out of the realm of possibility if they were pushing hard to get it out the door... a mid-October release would probably be more realistic, given the timelines... a late-October release would only occur if someone was dragging their feet. Looking forward to it... But not looking forward to the ineviatable "i can't run it at full sliders!!" posts the next day. -Greg

Long lead itmes- printing etc are probably already done. The only stuff that was really subjcet to change is the info on the DVD. Certainly the info was sent to the printers weeks ago for a defined delivery to the plants where everyting is integrated and assembled.

HiCan someone explain to me what does it mean when a product goes gold? Where does the term come from?ThanksStelios

Hi,It's just a term indicating that a product is ready to be released and thus no more changes to the code/functionality will be done.Another term (indicating the same) is RTM (Release To Market)Normally after beta stages is over, one or more so called 'Release Candidates' are published among the beta testers and sometimes the public.The functionality of such a product is froozen and only 'show stoppers' will be fixed.When the final release candidate is signed off, it becomes gold/RTM version.

>I remember when FS2002 was released, on Oct 23rd. A good week>and a half before it was due according to EB games, which was>Nov 5th.>>JamesThat would be an exception, not the rule.I'm sticking with the 17th of October as a good date for release, with the 18th or 19th being the day it actually arrives in EB Games.

>Another term (indicating the same) is RTM (Release To Market)It's actually "Release To Manufacturing" but Release To Market will work just as well! :-)

The term "Gold" comes from what's known as a "Gold Master" that's made so that the plants that make the retail Cd's can make up a Master CD and then use that to press the Cd's that you in fact buy at your retail store. When many thousands of Cd's have to be made they are in fact stamped out much like vinyl records use to be as burning Cd's would be far too slow when a large amount have to be created. Hope this is of some help to you. Dan Martin Team Flight Ontario

I read up on the process a while back and I think they are injection molded with thermoplastic material. I know they used to be done this way as I was in that type of business and have seen it done at trade shows.The reason for "gold" disks is very interesting. People don't realize that a very large portion of the disk is used for error correction algorithms, such as that used in newsgroup "Quickpar" with included ".par" correction files. There is much more space on the disk, than that which is defined as "usable". If this were not the case, any scratch, pit, or spec of dust would ruin the disk when the end user uses it. The idea is hold disk errors to a minimum, as zero errors is not possible either in manufacture or end use. Both higher quality burners and higher quality "gold colored material" master disks are used to hold all errors to a minimum in the original burns. Then the masters are checked for functionality with very low error rates on them. They then know all clones will work as planned in the field. The whole process of "gold" to "machine masters" to final printed disk ready to box is extremely fast. The molding process is just a few seconds, then small robots move the disk from the molding machine mold, through the "silk Screen" or "rubber stamp" print process and into a paper jacket on a rotary table. It's quite interesting. It's just a matter of if they have the capacity to mold the pieces, but once started it's very fast. Bob (Las Cruces, NM)