Well, I've just been running stock FS9, only to try out some new planes I bought, and believe me when I say I'd forgotten how dull the default Duxford scenery looked in FS9. Normally I'd be running it with the British Airports series on, Roads and Rivers of Europe and FSGlobal terrain. With all that on Duxford looks like the real thing. Without any of it then all that's there is a strip, one runway, not even the grass runway to the side.For those of you who don't know Duxford, it's the home of part of the Imperial War Museum here in UK. They have several airshows every year and it's in Cambridge. It's about an hour's journey by coach from where I live, so my home airshow if you like, but it's a museum as well, so open most of the year. Also it has it's own flying club, and a group called 'Classic Wings' are based there, they offer flights in such delightful old ladies as Tiger Moth's and Dragon Rapide's.Well worth a visit if you're ever coming to the UK.

It did, but never liked it, so made up my own version... :-)

"Heaven's on Fire..."

"With FSX, the only things I find that are "better", at least to a degree befitting a completely new version that's been 3 years in the making, are the presence of birds, stock watercraft and the improvements in the rendering of clouds versus sky & horizon." that's drivel and I'm pretty sure you don't really think that. I didn't even bother reading the rest of your post.And no, I don't think you should have the right to your own opinion when it's just basically a load of bollocks. :-)

As far as I have seen screenshots and tried the demo myself I have to say that compared to Fs9 there are multiple improvements in FSX.One thing I thinks is a pity and that is that I find the colors to satisfied.If you have ever flown in an aircraft in reality you have seen that the outside world has less satisfied colors.FSX looks like wearing Polaroid sunglasses.I have to modify the colors of my desktop to make it more real.For the rest I will buy FSX ofcoarse.

Presumably you mean FSX should have less saturated colours.Bruceb

Saturated colors ; yes I meant that. Thanks.However , I will turn the colors a bit down to be satisfied > LOL

I've downloaded the full (8.1 Gigabyte) beta and have been flying it for about a week now. I considered myself just a run of the mill flight simmer. Above the "fly under every bridge" variety but not quite to the "full operating checklists" variety.My "gut feel opinion" after having spent a week with it is that it is a significant improvement in the graphics department (if as Steve indicates you have a really super system) but I've come to realize that beyond that, there's really nothing new. It's pretty much the same old FS9 with prettier clothes. This has led me to decide to put my money into add on enhancements like Radar Contact 4 and stay with FS9 for now. I may skip this one and wait for FSXITo each his own....this is mine.

My opinion-I can think of no better way to spend $60 or so in life!Fsx is something that will bring contless hours and several years of enjoyment.( I won't even go into the improvements over fs9 which have been well documented e.g. the missions are probably worth the price alone). In fact-I am not sure there are any better bargains in life when you take the cost of the product and amortize the number of hours of enjoyment it will bring. Besides-if sales are not good-there would be little incentive for another future product-how is that for stifling innovation?Therefore-here are some ideas how to save money to buy a copy of fsx that will take little effort. I have also included the time lost for each sacrifice so it can be compared to the countless hours of time spent simming the next 2-3 years. Even if for some reason you decide you don't like fsx and stop using it after two hours you are still ahead...1) Skip one single meal for your family of 4 at one of those "chain" restaurants. You know-the ones that the waiter writes his signature on your tablecloth, and they put on silly hats and sing happy birthday, but can't remember you asked for no tomatos on the salad.The salad looks like it needed to be thrown away a week ago with cheap bottled dressing and the food tastes like it has been sitting all day but recently microwaved. You swear you won't eat there again-but next week you are are back because it is convienient....Cost savings (1 skipped meal for 4)= $74-total enjoyment (or not) time sacrificed- 2 hours2) Skip taking your family of 4 once to the movies-you probably won't enjoy the movie as much as you were expecting, it will be outin video a month from now, the theater is too loud, dirty, and all that junk food that is grossly overpriced does not doanyone wonders for their health.Cost savings (1 missed movie and junk food)- $60 -total enjoyment time sacrificed(or not) - 2 hours3) Skip one week of going to Costco/Sams. I don't know why it is, but whenever I go to one of these I spend about $60 on something I probably didn't need until I saw it there.Cost savings (1 missed weekly trip)- $60 -total time of this sacrifice- 60 minutes4) If you are a real pilot-make your next trip to an uncontrolled airport-the reduction of the taxi time to get clearance, taxi to ramp, and get released will cover the cost of FS. Of course if you check the fuel prices in advance and make wise fuel up stops you can save the cost of 1-2 sims on almost every trip!Cost savings = $60-$120 -total time of this sacrifice 10 minutes5) After FSx comes out-simply resist buying 1 to 2 add ons-the ones where you know you will fire them up-say "oooh" and "ah"-use them about 1 hour, and then let them collect dust.Cost savings = $55 - total enjoyment (or not) time 2 hours6) Turn your thermostat down 2 degrees from normal setting this winter for 3 months. For each degree you reduce your thermostat setting, you reduce seasonal cooling costs by 7 to 10 percent. Of course this depends on your monthly bill-but adjust accordingly....you can turn it back up for the remaining 2.5 simming years.Cost savings=$60 - total cold time -3 months7) Don't make a post at avsim for 2 weeks. After all it takes 15 minutes to compose your thoughts, another 15 to post them, and then all that time rechecking the thread and possibly responding with more posts.In that time you could work a couple extra overtime hours, mow two lawns, shovel snow for a neighbor e.g. earn that $60. Earning potential=$60-Time not spent posting/reposting on avsim= 3 hoursHopefully some of these ideas will allow everyone to feel good about getting a copy of fsx-at perhaps the one time sacrifice of not reading and responding to a thread like this! :-)http://mywebpages.comcast.net/geofa/pages/rxp-pilot.jpg

"Earning potential=$60-Time not spent posting/reposting on avsim= 3 hours"I don't like that suggestion at all... Let's not make this personal... Okay? :-lol

I was hoping you wouldn't notice.... :-eekhttp://mywebpages.comcast.net/geofa/pages/rxp-pilot.jpg

Great Post!RH

I have another way to make $60 bucks. :) I'll bet $60 dollars that 90 percent of the lamenter's will buy FSX as soon as the first jaw dropping add-on is offered! I predict the new API from ACES plus the additional new features will allow our magnificent developers to create superb products for FSX. The gap will grow faster than ever!! :)Bob...

Actually, Geofa, I was hoping that Tom could make it so our accounts would only allow posting once per week...ROFL.

I have been simming for a long time. I started back in 1982 with a little app called "Flight Simulator" for the C=64, a few years before SubLogic's Flight Simulator II came out. It was nothing more than a black screen with a starting position at a landing approach phase, with about 10 or 15 little pixels designating the "runway". lolFlight Simulation has come a long way since then. Before FS2004, the best sim out for the PC, IMHO, was Sierra's Pro Pilot. When I started using FS2004, I was amazed by the whole thing, but I also noted many of the fundamental differences between Pro Pilot & FS9 - differences in the overall approach to creating the look and feel of the software package - which convinced me that if Sierra had been able to continue the development of their simulator to this day, it would have evolved into something far better than both FS9 and FSX put together. Why? Good question - hold that thought.When I tried the FSX demo, I was not at all impressed. With FSX, the only things I find that are "better", at least to a degree befitting a completely new version that's been 3 years in the making, are the presence of birds, stock watercraft and the improvements in the rendering of clouds versus sky & horizon.Of course, there are a million and one new options available that provide for increases in level of detail for various aspects of the FS world, but when one is unable to set any of those options to levels beyond about 50% of what can be achieved with FS9 without bogging a cutting-edge box down to about 5 FPS or worse, all those neat little "wish-list" options are nothing more than a sickening, frustrating tease.Back to the "Why" question - Why would Pro Pilot have evolved into a better sim than FS9 & FSX combined, had it not been knocked out by Microsoft encroaching on it's customer base, much like Walmart laying waste to small-town America's downtown shops & stores?Two words: Stifling innovation. That is the name of Microsoft's game. No, not in the beginning - after all, innovation was the means by which Microsoft came to rule the software world. But once they became God, they took a well planned 180.If there was any question in anyone's mind before now, the new FSX demo illustrates perfectly what everyone should understand about Microsoft: that they have absolutely ZERO interest in making any of their software as good as it can be.As the leaders in their field, Microsoft's entire business plan is modeled around a single core concept: That if you provide as little improvement in quality, functionality and usability as possible between major releases of any software application, it will extend the marketability/profitability life of that product indefinitely... and you will RULE THE SOFTWARE WORLD until you are forced to compete in order to maintain that rule.So the only surprise I have is in the fact that with FSX, Microsoft seems to have outdone even themselves in the department of stifling innovation. And I must applaud them for their (under)acheivment. Bravo, Bill! You've managed to stagnate the world of home flight simulation software even to a greater extent than you've stagnated the rest of the software world! Bra-VO!!SK