Would be too much of a pain. Also some people still don't have the Internet yet so they would miss out.
Besides, freeware and payware addons usually come out pretty quickly after the sim is released.


BTW, this will probably be moved to General Discussion because the Cafe is not for flightsim speak.

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  That would be about it too!

  Because you can be sure that the planes that M$ would have up "for sale" would be all the most common types of aircraft, which you can already find at one of the sim sites in the form of freeware, besides, knowing M$ you would probably still have to pay $50.00 for the game to begin with, and you are suggesting it comes with no planes, therefore useless out of the box.

  I'm not one to put people down for their ideas, so I'll just say that if it was sold seperately from the other MS flight sims as an alternate package, then I suppose a few people might go for it, but I think you would find yourself shelling out a lot more cash in the end.

  I just don't think it would be a very popular item.

Don't even suggest this to anyone.....I remember the anguish it caused me when the Auto Manufacturers all decided not to sell options in singles any more....they forced me to have an entire pkg, of which I only wanted one or two things and had to take the lot ( and pay for them ) just to get the few I wanted in the first place......Think about how many cable channels you don't watch on TV, but pay for, because you have to buy a pkg!

Man, what a response!  

I just think (in my case) it would be nice not to be forced to buy commercial aircraft.  I have always stuck with light planes, vintage and military and I don't see myself changing that soon.  Think of the advantages of choosing the planes that will be in FS2004.  How many MS aircraft are in each sim?  16 in FS 2002.  What if you had 50 to choose from?  Good God, does ANYONE fly the sailplane?

No, MS would not charge less for the sim, (even I know that) but you wouldn't be getting less, just getting it a different way.  Then think about this one; as an add-on, go into the store and buy all the available MS planes on one CD.  The 'breed' would also improve as there would be more MS aircraft out there to play with and develop.  I would love to see a MS developed F-18 Hornet come out.  What about more helicopters or floatplanes?  

True, 56k sucks (I have dial-up...) but soon dial-up will be relegated to the same category as tape drives and 1.44 Mb floppies.  It's on it's way out, and if you don't believe that, ask the recording industry.  It's being considered now by most major labels that instead of going to a next generation format that they make downloadable music the primary point of sale.

Rifleman, you are supporting this when you speak of options packages and cable channels you don't use.  That's basically what you are doing now.  In order to get the Cessna, you also have to buy the 747.  This would have the opposite effect.

It may be the business manager in me speaking, but I think it would be an excellent way of doing this...

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If you read my post carefully, I am not condoning in any manner, the pkg thing! I detest it.....If I could buy just what I want, I would be a much happier consumer. In the interest of " the customer is always right " , I see no consumer benefit to selling pkgs....this is a marketing strategy which is done to justify "revenue boosting selling tatics" which provide (read "forced sale") unwanted product to the helpless public..........if you don't want part of the pkg then don't buy it at all, but the seller knows that the buyer will pay for what he wants, even if it involves getting ( and paying for ) the extras, which he had no intention of getting.....
.....just sell me what I want for a fair price and stop making me pay for other things !

No, what I want is more variety and a customizable sim. 

I AM NOT SAYING MS SHOULD SELL A SIM WITHOUT PLANES!  JUST THAT THOSE PLANES COULD COME FROM ANOTHER SOURCE BESIDE THE GAME CD!

  I also hate being forced to buy packages of things.  I want to be able to pick and choose what I want for gosh sakes!  And have the ability to buy more of the same quality if I want them!  Yes I love planes for free, I am not anti-freeware, and I have absolutely nothing against God, Country, Queen, Baseball, Apple Pie or Dodges (well, maybe Dodges)

Upon looking at this further, however, it does seem to be more and more unworkable because of the reasons above dealing with copyrights.  I agree MS wouldn't want to shell out that kind of money and as soon as anyone starts talking about MS licsensing something they automatically double the price.  Maybe just a CD of add-ons would be better.