Flight project cancelled/on hold

[Tierborn 188]

Just watched the 10 minute taxi video and the guy says he has an "inside confidential source", then goes into what the law will consider verifiable detail from his source... but... if, infact he is lying this would call into question a much more serious issue. Slander/Libel... If he is lying, has no true source, based on what he has said, this is clearly a malicious and false statement that has the potential to hurt MS. Not only financially but also what the law considers a companies fitness and conduct of their business or trade... But the issues he cites are very believable... new blood in the design division calling into question profitability. The economy as a whole and the future of the gaming market... anyone who has any grasp of the current business/financial climate knows all of those things are being discussed at great length in every boardroom and bank in the free world. I dunno, despite his past actions he may well be onto something, if not I'll be the first to say he's playing with legal fire here... you don't start rumors like this for S&G's unless you love spending all your money on lawyers...

At this point .. a "C" student law could have the case dismissed .... key element for slander in this case, is proof that MS was hurt financially for a piece of yet to be released software. Also, the 10 min taxi dude doesn't have the clout to be considered a reliable source and the "C" student lawyer would simply show that it was mostly just his opinion.

[Jacoba 55]

At this point .. a "C" student law could have the case dismissed .... key element for slander in this case, is proof that MS was hurt financially for a piece of yet to be released software. Also, the 10 min taxi dude doesn't have the clout to be considered a reliable source and the "C" student lawyer would simply show that it was mostly just his opinion.

Nope... One of the biggest misconceptions of defamation law... first off all that's needed to bring a cause of action is three simple things. 1. The person or in this case company first must prove that the statement was false.2. Second, they must prove that the statement caused simple harm, NOT financial harm, but simply harm.3. Next, they must prove that the statement was made without adequate research into the truthfulness of the statement. Its simple really... All that must be proven to bring a cause of action is that (his actions, Mr. 10 minute Taxi) interfered with the companies legally recognized interest. Which has long since been acknowledged as harmful to a business's interests. And the interference will be whatever the $500 per hour lawyer Microsoft hires, says it is... and trust me they'll have such a mastery of the legal language that but he time they are finished polishing the suit it'll read like this guy cost them $$$millions$$$... And that's how it always works. You want the standard claim to be so high that any settlement offered will look reasonable by comparison. The courts have always held there is no distinction between types of harm as long as the plaintiff can prove their claims. This has long been accepted legal doctrine in the USA, since 1734 when the famous John Peter Zenger Case set the legal standard for harm justifying a tort claim that still stands today. And thanks to the US Supreme Court ruling handed down in 2003 a company can now claim damages for a single cause of actions for past, present and future during a single lawsuit. But such claims might be a bridge too far when going after some idiot on the internet. This ruling more so applies when suing another industry competitor say Apple Inc... The law is a funny entity. I've discovered in my days that 90% of what gets repeated on the error-net is wrong and the rest is simply bad law...

[Jacoba 55]

But... there is one kink to this little intellectual exercise were are engaging in... Would the courts consider Mr. 10 Minute Taxi a journalist for the purposes of any lawsuit? If they did that takes this into a whole new realm of even more perplexing laws that give journalist, even citizen journalist certain privileges and immunities that must exist for them to be able to do their jobs. But that again is taking this to a whole new level and the simple fact of all of this is, that if MS felt this yahoo did slander them, all that would happen would be some lawyer somewhere looking into it then firing off what is called a "Nastygram" in the trade, aka a Cease and Desist letter. Telling him to stop it, possibly issue a public retraction or risk legal action. But anyways... little error-net to and fro's like this are fun from time to time...

[alainneedle1 97]

After reading post # 77 what ever I said about flight....I pulled it out of my a$$

[dmaher 0]

[Tierborn 188]

But... there is one kink to this little intellectual exercise were are engaging in... Would the courts consider Mr. 10 Minute Taxi a journalist for the purposes of any lawsuit? If they did that takes this into a whole new realm of even more perplexing laws that give journalist, even citizen journalist certain privileges and immunities that must exist for them to be able to do their jobs. But that again is taking this to a whole new level and the simple fact of all of this is, that if MS felt this yahoo did slander them, all that would happen would be some lawyer somewhere looking into it then firing off what is called a "Nastygram" in the trade, aka a Cease and Desist letter. Telling him to stop it, possibly issue a public retraction or risk legal action. But anyways... little error-net to and fro's like this are fun from time to time...

yep . that was my point .. MS could never bring this case to court .... not with the 10min taxi guys 10 sec rant

[mmann 72]

I'm sure that Microsoft would just tell this 10 Minute Taxidermist to get stuffed!

[Rimshot 1,157]

After reading post # 77 what ever I said about flight....I pulled it out of my a$$

LOL

[MrSpeaker 122]

Seriously guys I think your spending to much time watching Judge Judy

[ashj24uk 19]

I think this 10 min taxi is a joke or something I watched his broadcast and he said I have an inside source i don't think he does i think he is just trying to panic people the amount of money Microsoft has put into Microsoft flight they would spend it then just say we don't want to do it any more. I mean you look at all they previous flight sim games they are still making microsoft money to this day. the only thing i wonder is why their has been no updates but I have emailed them and have asked them about a release date and I got a reply the guy who is taking careis on holiday until October so maybe they are all so busy they just haven't had time. I mean come on guy their ready to test the game. and if their one thing we know about Microsoft they don't waste money they make it.

[Johan_Dees 84]

GameSpot said that "Crimson Skies does an excellent job of taking the elements of flight simulations that have broad appeal—the shooting and the fancy flying—and embellishing them with a great environment and a good story."http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crimson_Skies_%28video_game%29 Casual gamers? they tried but didnt worked out well.. With around 7 miljard.. is it trillion in or billion in the US, people, I guess more than 100.000 simmers do exist.

[Tierborn 188]

GameSpot said that "Crimson Skies does an excellent job of taking the elements of flight simulations that have broad appeal—the shooting and the fancy flying—and embellishing them with a great environment and a good story."http://en.wikipedia....28video_game%29 Casual gamers? they tried but didnt worked out well.. With around 7 miljard.. is it trillion in or billion in the US, people, I guess more than 100.000 simmers do exist.

Couple of points .. anyone can write comments on wikipedia .. Really, folks you should skip the wikipedia entry when you google and take the next one. Causal gamers have carried the MSFS flight aim franchise. Please remember that crimson skies is not MSFS. Dont understand your numbers ... 300 million in the US .... you still didn't provide any input to prove or disprove the estimate of 100k flight enthusiasts ... MSFS has sold millions .. there are not millions of flight enthusiasts .. so the combined sales of the causal gamer and the flight enthusiasts makes up the total sales numbers. Consider that there are millions of folks that own the title .. but have only spend a hour or two with it over the years .. the flight enthusiasts might send hourr or two daily. thats the difference.

[Orbx 123]

Amusing thread :)The actual (read: active, purchasing third party add ons) real FS enthusiast community is tiny. We estimate less than 40,000 active FS enthusiasts worldwide, across both the tube liner and VFR disciplines. We know this purely from tracking our sales data and also being aware of other developer's sales data which they share with us.Please don't use the number of registrations at AVSIM, Flightsim.com or other forums as any indication of the community size. That is a totally false assumption. The community is based on what they purchase, and 99.95% of FS enthusiasts purchase add ons for their sim, as well as enjoying the plethora of freeware available.So a reality check - it is somewhat arrogant to assume that we as the hardcore FS enthusiast community even feature in the target demographic marketing model for MS Flight at all. If anything, we are a noisy and unwelcome distraction to their end goal, which is to bring a simple Flight experience to a Mom and Pop audience counted in the millions, not tens of thousands.While we may feel MS pay attentions to forums such as these, the reality is they may cast it an idle glance, but they certainly don't use it as a guide for what their target demographic want from the new sim. Their complete lack of interaction with the hardcore community should have been a clear signal to all of you here some time ago. Persisting in the delusion that MS are actually involved in the FS community at all will just lead to frustration.I am sure we will all have a curious play with Flight when the demo is released. Until then neither FS enthusiasts nor developers have a clue as to what to expect other than some screenshots and videos.However, I do visit these forums quite a lot because the speculation makes for a lot of belly laughs :)

[mgh 89]

A welcome dose of reality.

[shivers9 1,174]

Amusing thread :) The actual (read: active, purchasing third party add ons) real FS enthusiast community is tiny. We estimate less than 40,000 active FS enthusiasts worldwide, across both the tube liner and VFR disciplines. We know this purely from tracking our sales data and also being aware of other developer's sales data which they share with us. Please don't use the number of registrations at AVSIM, Flightsim.com or other forums as any indication of the community size. That is a totally false assumption. The community is based on what they purchase, and 99.95% of FS enthusiasts purchase add ons for their sim, as well as enjoying the plethora of freeware available. So a reality check - it is somewhat arrogant to assume that we as the hardcore FS enthusiast community even feature in the target demographic marketing model for MS Flight at all. If anything, we are a noisy and unwelcome distraction to their end goal, which is to bring a simple Flight experience to a Mom and Pop audience counted in the millions, not tens of thousands. While we may feel MS pay attentions to forums such as these, the reality is they may cast it an idle glance, but they certainly don't use it as a guide for what their target demographic want from the new sim. Their complete lack of interaction with the hardcore community should have been a clear signal to all of you here some time ago. Persisting in the delusion that MS are actually involved in the FS community at all will just lead to frustration. I am sure we will all have a curious play with Flight when the demo is released. Until then neither FS enthusiasts nor developers have a clue as to what to expect other than some screenshots and videos. However, I do visit these forums quite a lot because the speculation makes for a lot of belly laughs :)

John...thanks a lot for jumping in here. It would be my guess that you guys have a very good idea of the real marketing numbers. I have for a long time wondered why no one would jump in and set us all straight. It does amaze me that the number you quote is so low but I guess we all have a tendency to think everyone love what we love....lol In addition to answering a question for me you also have freed up more time now that I no longer will be tempted to ever look at this rubbish again. LOL More time to fly...once again thanks for the info and thanks for a great bunch of ad on's.