Wow, Check this out! Perhaps my idea wasn't so radical after all. This is what ACES is already doing - check it out on Pauls web blog.http://blogs.msdn.com/ptaylor/archive/2007...-announced.aspx They are creating Microsoft Flight Simulator Visual Basic! Man I am good!

If this takes off it could be really good news for FS (which presumably just becomes one ESP application among many). As different kinds of simulation get developed on this platform, there are going to be more demands from all over the place to make it more realistic both visually and physics-wise. And of course better performing.Presumably these applications will generate revenue for Microsoft, which should translate into more resource being directed at the engine.As Phil says, interesting times indeed. :)

"FS (which presumably just becomes one ESP application among many)."ESP is a distinct, brand-neutral platform for commercial solution providers to leverage.

Hmm, ok. So ESP is the raw game engine for people to develop upon. Not necessarily for flight simulator related material.I think in the future this ESP engine will develop into something like Google Earth. Were there are tons of applications that can be added to it. Perhaps Later on down the road ACES should consider putting out a central hub (that base program I talked about / the raw world) - like google earth - were others can add the programs they wish. So you can basically chose/create the world you want.This is going to be so interesting!

So future FS versions won't be built on ESP but will share the same underlying engine?Either way it seems natural that feedback from ESP developers could result in improvements to the ESP engine, which would presumably also make it into subsequent versions of FS. Which is of course good news for us.Or is it likely to be the other way around, with developments to FS making their way into future versions of ESP?Looking forward to following this story closely...Colin

>> ESP is a distinct, brand-neutral platform for commercial solution providers to leverage. Is it accurate to say that MS TrainSim is an ESP proof of concept developed internally at Microsoft?Everything we are hearing about TrainSim says it's based on the same environment, scenery, etc., along with some enhancements. Which leads to a follow up question; how does MS adopt/implement the enhancements developers create with ESP that would make ESP a better platform? Many FS developers have to create proprietary code to implement concepts, yet it seems that such enhancements would be best served with incorporation into ESP, not left on a developer's hard drive.Bruce

Look at it this way:1)there is an platform/engine. 2)at a point in time we cut a version of the platform/engine with a certain feature set. That is a product.Yes, there will be cross-polination. How exactly it all works out is going to play out over time.Note I now work on the Core Platform team helping develop the core platform/engine. Yes, my title change was a hint. :-)

See reply #21.

Well said Dewey. I think the problem is an age old one... humans, by their very nature, are preditors. We will defend our ideas/ideals to the death... and attack others when we "think" we are being attacked.Yeah, I know... "take a pill Murray!!!" But you all know I'm right!

Does this free up development attention to things like aerodynamics modeling and perhaps more complex systems modeling for the FS portion of ACES?JEff

Its too early to tell yet what the priorities are going to be on the commercial side and how fast that influences feature set. We need to get ESP v1.0 out and see what we find out. And then go from there.With that said, we certainly like to improve the sim part of the product on a regular basis; witness the systems modeling ( carrier systems, helo engine system, helo sling loads and hoists ) in Acceleration on top of the flight model changes in FSX. Certainly the next few years are going to be interesting.

>>Note I now work on the Core Platform team helping develop the>core platform/engine. Yes, my title change was a hint. :-)So in other words, the ACES Studio is going to design multiple apps based on this Core Platform?How extensible is this thing going to be?RhettAMD 3700+ (@2585 mhz), eVGA 7800GT 256 (Guru3D 93.71), ASUS A8N-E, PC Power 510 SLI, 2gb Corsair XMS 3-3-3-8 (1T), WD 150 gig 10000rpm Raptor, WD 250gig 7200rpm SATA2, Seagate 120gb 5400 rpm external HD, CoolerMaster Praetorian

Yes.FSX and ESP v1.0 share a lot in terms of features and extensibility.TS2 will extend the platform for train scenarios and some ground scenarios.Future revs will, of course, add more features and extensibility. Given we are not even talking about what Trains2 is doing in detail yet, its way premature to talk about products that are even further out, eg FS11 and ESP v2.0. So please dont ask. This is going to play out over time, the community will have front-row seats, and it is going to get very interesting.

When you can't create the best ice-cream you sell the base. You got 100 customers instead of 100 millions but they're bigger, you got less problems, less people, you're lighter and you still hold the market. But wait! That's kinda what an OS does too..!Sounds like a strategic return to the original Spirit type move. But now, who's gonna invent the best ice-cream?

>>Given we are not even talking about what Trains2 is doing in>detail yet, its way premature to talk about products that are>even further out, eg FS11 and ESP v2.0. So please dont ask. >Be at ease, I am not one to ask about things like that anyway. ;)>This is going to play out over time, the community will have>front-row seats, and it is going to get very interesting.Popcorn in hand...RhettAMD 3700+ (@2585 mhz), eVGA 7800GT 256 (Guru3D 93.71), ASUS A8N-E, PC Power 510 SLI, 2gb Corsair XMS 3-3-3-8 (1T), WD 150 gig 10000rpm Raptor, WD 250gig 7200rpm SATA2, Seagate 120gb 5400 rpm external HD, CoolerMaster Praetorian