question about MAAM-SIM Future

[phrgflyer 50]

Bill,

 

I was and still am, extremely sorry that Jan has had to retire, but it is for his best. My question is "Will MAAM-SIM still be publishing new aircraft models, such as the P-61 and a new FSX version of the R4D and the FSX version of the Turkey?

 

I am just curious about it.

 

Also I plan to be at reading for the WWII Weekend, hope to see you there.

 

Harry Nelson

[phrgflyer 50]

So I guess this question will not get answered.

 

Thanks for your help.

 

Harry Nelson

[rambow 0]

Sorry, Harry. I've been having endless computer issues of late, but here it is in a nutshell:

 

There is zero possibilty that anyhting new will be coming out of the MAAM-SIM team, as it has ceased to exist, with the lone exception of this old goat who soldiers on as the museum's webmaster. The Mid-Atlantic Air Museum does still sell the old products - still for the benefit of the museum's ongoing restoration programs, but that, and what little help I can offer on this forum or by e-mail, and sometimes even on the phone, is the extent of the FS operation.

 

Jan's retirement was the team's death knell, but another original member, our genius programmer Fred Banting, had already bowed out of future projects, and Rob Young, although standing by for future projects, was fully engaged in RealAir, trying to make a living . That just leaves me here, and although I founded the team, almost 15 years ago, I am by far the least technically saavy of the group by a long chalk!

 

Our original quartet are all in the second half of our 60's, and considering none of us have ever made a dime off the endeavor, I hope our customers will understand that it is time to back away.

 

Please also forgive me if I don't get to this forum as often as I should. I'm pretty busy at a couple other projects that actually do make me a bit of much needed money to supplement my pension. I'm the author of a couple novels, loosely based on my own experiences as an Infantryman in Vietnam, and producer of a line of apparel and other gear for combat veterans of all wars from Vietnam to the present day.

 

www.CIBtheBook.com www.Mech-Grunt.com, in case anyone is interested.

 

My absences are likely to get even longer, as my wife is retiring this summer and we will be going on the road in our motorhome along with our two Golden Retrievers, and sometimes our young grand-children. In fact, this afternoon we head out to Charleston, SC, for the birth of our fourth, Connor Russell Rambow, due any day now. We'll be staying down there, helping out and escaping the latest, rapidly approaching winter storm.

 

Wish us luck!

[doorstep 46]

Dear Bill,

Thanks for giving us the 'heads-up'. I wish you a healthy retirement.

 

One thing I don't think I'll ever understand though, was why you pursued a new aircraft while there was an unbelieveable demand for a pukka FSX version of your best selling DC-3?

 

Your FS9 version was and still is the best 'Dak' ever produced.

[phrgflyer 50]

Bill,

 

Thank you for the update. I am sorry to hear this, but do wish you a good and glorious retirement.

 

Hopefully, I will see you at the MAAM event this year.

 

Good luck and may you and your family have a wonderful retirement. You like so many of us have earned it.

 

Harry

[rambow 0]

Dear Bill,

Thanks for giving us the 'heads-up'. I wish you a healthy retirement.

 

One thing I don't think I'll ever understand though, was why you pursued a new aircraft while there was an unbelieveable demand for a pukka FSX version of your best selling DC-3?

 

Your FS9 version was and still is the best 'Dak' ever produced.

 

That was Jan's decision, based on his desire to become more famiiar with the new design software he was jus starting to use. He wanted a simpler aircraft as a test bed for this before taking on the very complex,all singing and dancing Dakota. The now moribund "Yellow Peril" Project was this guinea pig. The FSX Dakota was next in the wings, but as we all know now, our "Dutch Master" finally ran out of gas and had to bail out.

 

The old girl continues to sell, though, as do her hangar-mates, the B-25 and TBM, for which the Museum is ever grateful.

 

The only new thing I do hope to accomplish (no promises!) is to produce a new installer for the DC-3 of the sort that the v7 B-25 already has. My incentive, aside from making it easier for the customers, is that it will save me a lot of work and time trying to help new users navigate the peculiarities of moving to a new 64bit system for the first time - that Program Files (x86) shambles. The B-25's installer will automatically locate your FSX or FS9 location and install to that directory, where the old DC-3 installer requires you to change the install path to yours, if it's not a default 32bit path. I'll do that the next time I'm faced with burning another batch of CDRs. In the meantime, I guess I'll try to find time to put up a little tutorial post here to explain it. Too many people still don't read read-me files!

[asanal 32]

Bill,

Thanks