btd29

When FSX everyone complained that the Sim should have been optimized for machines in existence at that time. Looking back, I think the Aces team did us a big favor by developing software that is only now being taken advantage of by the current hardware.My sense is that the Flight Simulator franchise will no longer be developed by Microsoft. Flight will not be a continuation of FSX in anyway. However, based on what I have seen, Flight does have potential to expose the genre of flight simulation to a lot of new people. Tom in a different post pointed out that the demographic of this forum is skewed to the older set. Based on the way that Flight is set up, with achievements, and a focus on low and slow flight friendly on beginners, there is a lot of potential to expose new people to flying planes on computers. Flight will be focused on making flying fun. Those who want to expand upon what Flight offers will be able to take advantage of FSX, XP10, P3D, etc.I look at Flight as filling a gap, which is that it is software that is geared to those who are casually interested. But Flight will introduce more people to the Flight Simulation genre than FSX, XP10, and P3D can and will ever do. In the long run, this will be a GREAT thing for the serious simulation enthusiast because some of those casual gamers will be come sim junkies, expanding the market and driving demand for the excellent content we have become accustomed to. So yes, while I am disappointed we dont have a successor to FSX that is being made by microsoft. I am intrigued by the possible expansion of the market, and what other publishers, like Lockeed, Laminar and possibly Aerosoft, can do for the serious sim community. Even if they dont do anything soon, FSX will continue to be viable for years to come. And by then, who knows what Microsoft may do.So I would suggest that everyone, once their anger subsides, calm down and appreciate Flight for what is and what it can do for us, the serious Sim community. I think that in the long run, both casual and serious simmers will be very happy with our options.

Congrats (depending on your POV) to those who made it into the beta. From everything I have seen so far its inevitable that there will be a lot of disappointment in the fact that this is not a successor to FSX. However, I think Tom's words "manage your expectations" are good advice for those who have not seen it in action. I think that ultimately there will be room in the flightsim world for both FSX and Flight but that they will serve very different purposes.I expect that those who did make it will respect the terms of the nondisclosure and Avsim's own rules and not disclose information for the sake of showing off or saying "i told you so." There will be plenty to discuss in this forum, (from what will be undoubtedly discussed and posted elsewhere on the internet) and particularly if and when this goes gold/demo.