On 2/12/2021 at 4:56 PM, DylanM said:

Their entire source code was bought and sold on the black market yesterday...probably not a great example.

Entirely different issue, doesn't change the fact they've been successful in the market with DRM-free software for more than 10 years now.

Concerning the source code, I'm not sure it's going to be a big problem for them. A commercial competitor won't be able to use the code for a new product, the engine is one among many others, and the number of smart coding tricks used that aren't known to other engine developers can probably be counted on one hand. 

Cyberpunk has its own share of problems, but that's beyond the scope of this forum. 

On 2/12/2021 at 6:22 PM, Denwagg said:

At the rate they are going on updates I wonder whether they will fix the Airplanes. If fact based on previous "attempts" at fixing premium content they are batting zero. I'm not sure if they even have the capability right now. I'm looking for any improvements to Premium Airplanes at 6 months. Don't really see any in the ones that I fly.

Hate to be negative because I do love the mod fixes. A320, CJ4 and to a lesser degree Longitude and TBM. They say they expect support for at least ten years. I think once they have exhausted the market for World update scenery where sales support it updates will come to a halt with maybe one or two patches after that. That will happen when sales drop and the cost of continued updates is more than expected sales and profit. I mean does anybody expect Africa, Siberia, Greenland or Canada ect. to be updated (no offence to those that lives there) 

My opinion is there is a better than even chance that Stock Premium airplanes will never see any substantial improvements. 

I haven't entirely made up my mind yet what to expect concerning the Premium airplanes. They do improve certain points on existing airplanes, aerodynamics issues are being addressed, obvious bugs make it into their to-do list, but they're progressing in mini steps. The G1000 overhaul is set to be released with the sim update in February (or March?), this will be a welcome addition, but I doubt they match the level of detail the community mods have already achieved. And this says little about their commitment to further improving the planes: as Jörg Neumann mentioned, the main point of revisiting the Garmin glass cockpits is their use in add-on planes, so there's a different motivation behind it than just making existing planes better.

On the plus side, I see them committed to their promises, while taking their time, and at the same time going through a steep learning curve themselves as a studio, they still fix the things they identified as issues. However, on a couple of important points their statements on the need of fixing remain pretty vague, and there's very little word concerning the stock Premium airplanes. My feeling is they'll probably improve issues with the overall handling, controls, aerodynamics, and some of the most glaring bugs, but beyond that, I don't expect much. I've never expected them to be study-level (no stock airplane has ever been, at least on the Microsoft side of flight sim), but I hoped for a technical level comparable to mid-range add-on planes. 

I'd very much welcome them opening up the Premium airplanes, as this would attract more skilled developers to take them to a whole new level, but as I said, it's highly unlikely for this to happen. It's a pity though, because the 3d models are top notch and deserve a better implementation of the systems...