Sad day for Mxsmanic

It seems as if Microsoft is pulling the plug on MS Flight Simulator.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/magazine/7902468.stm

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In article ,
John Godwin wrote:

It seems as if Microsoft is pulling the plug on MS Flight Simulator.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/magazine/7902468.stm

Wow, it's a very good day to be Austin Meyer. (The guy who makes
X-Plane.)

The bit in the article where he talks about a simmer being asked to land
a passenger plane after the pilots have been debilitated is pretty
funny. Absolutely no mention whatsoever of the difficulty or
improbability of actually pulling off such a feat. It is simply assumed
that it could be done.

--
Mike Ash
Radio Free Earth
Broadcasting from our climate-controlled studios deep inside the Moon

"John Godwin" wrote in message
...
It seems as if Microsoft is pulling the plug on MS Flight Simulator.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/magazine/7902468.stm

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I think it's a liability issue.

MSFS is so much like really flying, they have to consider the aging fleet.
Sooner or later we are going to start seeing structural code failures in
versions that have not been properly maintained.

John Godwin writes:

It seems as if Microsoft is pulling the plug on MS Flight Simulator.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/magazine/7902468.stm

Existing copies of MSFS will continue to run indefinitely. Software doesn't
wear out.

Mike Ash writes:

The bit in the article where he talks about a simmer being asked to land
a passenger plane after the pilots have been debilitated is pretty
funny. Absolutely no mention whatsoever of the difficulty or
improbability of actually pulling off such a feat. It is simply assumed
that it could be done.

It can easily be done.

Large commercial transports are heavily automated, and most flights are
conducted under computer control for most of their durations. With the
automation in operation, no particular flying skill is required to keep the
aircraft flying, and since the automation can also land the aircraft, no
particularly flying skill is required for landing, either.

Because of this, any person of reasonable intelligence who can follow
instructions precisely can land an airliner, with help over the radio from a
pilot.

Many people imagine a non-pilot grabbing the yoke and wrestling the aircraft
to the ground, Hollywood-style, and that type of scenario is indeed
implausible and likely to end in failure. But it's a very unrealistic
scenario, because in reality the automation would fly the plane, and the
non-pilot would never have to touch the controls. As long as he can follow
instructions, press buttons, and turn dials, he can land the airplane (or,
more precisely, he can direct the computer to land the airplane).

This has already been demonstrated on multiple occasions in full-motion sims.
In fact, some people are able to land airliners by hand without any previous
instruction, as long as they have an instructor to guide them. It's not
rocket science.

It's actually easier to land an airliner than it is to land a small aircraft,
because small aircraft usually have only limited automation, just as small
aircraft pilots usually have no clue about how large airliners work, and tend
to assume that everything flies like their Cessnas.

Mxsmanic wrote:
John Godwin writes:

It seems as if Microsoft is pulling the plug on MS Flight Simulator.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/magazine/7902468.stm

Existing copies of MSFS will continue to run indefinitely. Software doesn't
wear out.

Yep, all the software for DOS and an EGA display, not to mention the
Apple II stuff is still running, assuming you can find hardware that
still runs outside a museum.


--
Jim Pennino

Remove .spam.sux to reply.

In article ,
Mxsmanic wrote:

Mike Ash writes:

The bit in the article where he talks about a simmer being asked to land
a passenger plane after the pilots have been debilitated is pretty
funny. Absolutely no mention whatsoever of the difficulty or
improbability of actually pulling off such a feat. It is simply assumed
that it could be done.

It can easily be done.

When it's tested, either with an actual in-flight crisis or by having
somebody set it up as an experiment, then I will believe it. Until then,
please do not act as though the unknown is certain.

And no, I don't mean testing it in a simulator.

--
Mike Ash
Radio Free Earth
Broadcasting from our climate-controlled studios deep inside the Moon

The local AATD I use for IFR currency is run by XPlane
not MSFS

B

"John Godwin" wrote in message
...
It seems as if Microsoft is pulling the plug on MS Flight Simulator.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/magazine/7902468.stm

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wrote:

Yep, all the software for DOS and an EGA display, not to mention the
Apple II stuff is still running, assuming you can find hardware that
still runs outside a museum.

Umm.. not for nothing, but I still have my Apple IIe, and runs
great, especially if I want to play a good game of Karateka or Zaxxon!

BL.
- --
Brad Littlejohn | Email:
Unix Systems Administrator, |
Web + NewsMaster, BOFH.. Smeghead! | http://www.wizard.com/~tyketto
PGP: 1024D/E319F0BF 6980 AAD6 7329 E9E6 D569 F620 C819 199A E319 F0BF

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"Wolfgang Schwanke" wrote in message
...

Umm, I don't know about Apples, but Intel machines ought to be fully
backward compatible. All Intel compatible CPUs including the latest 64
Bit DualCore and its clones can emulate 8086/8088, and all modern
graphics boards can emulate ancient graphics modes such as EGA,
Hercules or plain text mode. So you can run old versions of DOS and
ancient softwares.

I doubt an old DOS version will recognise a USB joystick, and I don't think
you'll find a game port that will plug into your 64 Bit DualCore
motherboard.

At work I've been fighting with some old software running on 386/486
hardware. I don't know why, but the text software havs an eight second delay
between screens. There's a hardware security device on the parallel port
that I suspect is part of the problem. I've tried every bios setting I could
find, but it won't go away.

Also, I don't theing the video boards do hercules. I recall needing some
kind of software emulator to do that at one time. Unless I'm thinking of the
CGA emulator that ran on a Hercules adapter.