Project Magenta: An Open Letter to the Sim Community

[Jackpilot]

It is really amazing to see how the human mind works!!!!
......Why keep it simple when you can have it complicated!!!

...(I tend to do that too)

Sipping my morning coffee and basically enjoying the present.
Jack

[BlackWidow]

I totaly agree that eye candy is not everything. One thing that I do like aobut FSX over X-plane is that the town I live in... Tehachapi .... in FSX the road and mountains are all where they should be the look of the ground is very close to what i really see when im up in the sky in my friends 152. In X-plane it looks like a tropical rain forrest and the mountains and roads are not even close to what it looks like. No i dont need all the eye candy but i would like X-plane to be more realistic in its geography (spelling) then it is in its current state.

[fweinrebe]

The problem in FSX is that my hometown Windhoek looks like a desert and lots of sand, where in real life there are trees and grass. The FS2004 default scenery was much better. Wonder what X-plane will be like?

But then again Namibia isn't high on the priority of scenery. Although it is a very beautiful country from the ground and air, MSFS scenery leaves a lot for the imagination.

[mattford1]

From Avsim:

The Facts Emerge - The future of MS Flight Simulation

Posted: Sunday, February 8, 2009 - 20:01
There has been a lot of speculation, rumor and simple guesses as to what Microsoft is going to do with the Flight Simulator “enterprise”. Through a number of sources, some of whom are former ACES members, we have been able to get to the bottom of where our hobby is heading, at least as far as Microsoft is concerned. Our sources will remain anonymous, for obvious reasons. Here are the hard, cold, and very disappointing facts:

FACT: Microsoft Flight Simulator for the PC is dead. There are no plans to continue the FS series in a form that we would recognize. The wholesale dispatch of the ACES team speaks volumes to this.

FACT: ESP is dead. Boeing, Raytheon and presumably Northrop Grumman (ESP’s first adopters) received notification that the ESP franchise is done and that, in effect, they are on their own. We have seen some discussion putting hope in the emergence of ESP as the next "engine" for flight simulator. That is not going to happen.

FACT: Some developers in our hobby approached Microsoft to purchase the MSFX code. Microsoft rebuffed that offer in total. We presume that this is because having the FSX code out there would “diffuse” their future intent and model for a flight simulator “replacement”.

What is Microsoft’s future intent as regards flight simulation? Simple really… Create a flight simulation system for Windows Live, and sell applications for it much like Apple does for their IPhone / Ipod family. Third party developers will have to submit their applications, as do Apple developers, for approval by MS and they in turn would earn a percentage from the sales of those applications. Vendors that we have talked to are extremely upset about this. It also brings back memories of the infamous Papa Tango attempts to hijack freeware.

Imagine for a moment a “live” simulator that has as its core a “Flight Unlimited” like virtual world. You can fly around a very small part of the world in the default system, but to add to your simulation world, you have to purchase the additional scenery from MS. You want more than a 172, a Baron, or a 737? Simple, purchase it via the Live system.

Imagine for a moment the availability of liveries that would be made available. Without approval by the airlines, you can imagine the lack of variety in the “live” modeled aircraft. Under the present arrangement, freeware is seen as free advertising for the United’s, American’s, Lufthansa’s and others of the world. Insert the dollar into the equation, and it is reasonable to expect that our current arrangement with carriers would evaporate. Would MS consider providing freeware via its live system? Don’t hold your breath – too many liability concerns, copyright infringement risks, product support and management issues to take on for free.

What about VATSIM, IVAO and the plethora of other peripheral attractions that we now benefit from? Imagine paying to connect to VATSIM for an hour or two of supervised flight. Spend some time thinking about the ramifications of this, and it only gets scarier.

We have a simple new reality to face up to; Microsoft has changed their business model as regards the flight simulation genre and we are seeing the first steps of that new model taking hold. We can assume that a “live” version will entail online subscription costs per month or year, and additional add-on’s will cost us.

[Adino]

In my humble opinion flightsim is not dead we have FS9 and FSX full of potential and lot of talented guys out there so way to go....X-plane is not a real sultion at moment (maybe in the future) as at lacks the developer and community backbone of FS...and by time we have seen all of FSX we probbably will have a new FS...just my thoughts...

[mattford1]

Adino-
I totally agree on FS9 and FSX having longevity. FSX I think was particularly good especially with SimConnect. Regarding future versions, that post was from an article in Avsim, and this jives with my MS sources. I think it's pretty much a long shot that FS will appear again, and if it does, it would likely not be in a PC form. While I agree FSX can continue on for some time with 3rd party stuff, I think it's hopeful thinking for FS to be developed again. You can thank Steve Balmer for that (and the economy of course).

I do hope that X-Plane will get on the band wagon in terms of having the sort of support and backbone to enable the 3rd party people to take the sim seriously. I think it has potential, it just needs to be fleshed out more.

Matt

In my humble opinion flightsim is not dead we have FS9 and FSX full of potential and lot of talented guys out there so way to go....X-plane is not a real sultion at moment (maybe in the future) as at lacks the developer and community backbone of FS...and by time we have seen all of FSX we probbably will have a new FS...just my thoughts...

[ivar hestnes]

I think Matt Ford has a good point here. MS is not interested in the community. They do this only for the cash. So they want to make the current cash flow to increase and also they want to make money on all aspects that are involved with their platform.

Why would they else quit on FS as it is per today, when they were making money on it. Simple. They want to make more money. They dont care a nickle about the community. The ones that got fired, they cared. Many of them vwere dedicated to what they did. But the owners, they dont care.

I think msfs as a "simulation" stops with FSX. This is it. We have to stick with what we already have, and what can be developed within that platform. And we can expect that X-plane slowly will overtake "our" market in flight simulation. Companies that have developed addons for msfs are interested in continue their business like today without MS controlling it, so I think it will be very naturally that they start looking at X-plane. (They probably already are).

Future msfs will be a cash-flowing game, 100% controlled by MS, and nothing more.

Just my thoughts

[Jackpilot]

Adino you are 100% right.

What MS management will do in 2 or 3 years is unknown to MS itself.
Those who, according to "anonymous" sources, think that this is the End of the World have little point debating the fact anymore since their world has ended...Period.
Those who think otherwise still have a lot to do with what they have built so far.
My 2 billion dollars.
Jack

[mattford1]

Jackpilot-

I hope you prove me wrong . I'm going to really miss FS.

Matt

Adino you are 100% right.

What MS management will do in 2 or 3 years is unknown to MS itself.
Those who, according to "anonymous" sources, think that this is the End of the World have little point debating the fact anymore since their world has ended...Period.
Those who think otherwise still have a lot to do with what they have built so far.
My 2 billion dollars.
Jack

[Jackpilot]

Hey Matt...FS is still here....!! But we will miss you dearly if you migrate from it!! (lol)



BTW Prices on EBay shoot up...grab copies while you can!

Have a great day

Jack