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But if fs 2006 was more expensive to buy but had far higher quality stuff then we wouldnt have to buy as much payware and we could always just save for it, like you say about payware 
And the professional flight simulator would cost a lot more than fs so you would have to save even more. Then people will complain because they only got one hour for 100s of £ instead of fs2006 for life for the same price  8)

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Unless I'm mistaken, I think you missed the point about what he was saying about AlphaSim. Most of their aircraft are very cheap in comparison with other payware companies. Also, the range of aircraft they have is much greater than any payware company I know.

These are the numbers of aircraft each of these companies have for sale (excluding unreleased aircraft):
note, these figures could be wrong, I'm just counting, by 'hand', what is displayed on the product pages.

AlphaSim - 77
Aerosoft - 20
Captain Sim - 7
PMDG - 5 (if you include different variations of the aircraft)
RealAir - 2

I have to also agree with Gunny, by saying that AlphaSim should be taken for example. A great choice of aircraft, bound to suit any military aviator, and for much less than other payware developers would charge. Most of their aircraft are released at around $24.00 (£13.85), and the most expensive I've seen, was released at $30 (£17.31).

Me, however. I shall continue to stay away from payware 'til I have money stashed away that can be used for it. As long as there's perfectly good freeware...

I think the customer base for FS is fairly well established by now.  It is definatly not your X-box 360 crowd.  Most of them wouldn't have the patience to work with FS and learn procedure, navigation and techiques.  Also, there's no winning and loosing save for not crashing your flight.  With that established, I think it would be a right time for MS to amp up the product with more in depth default aircraft, better flight modeling and in general, more immersion in all areas.  The customer base being fairly well established would already own the hardware to run it effectively.  I can't speak for everyone but I know I would be pleased and probably not seeking add-ons either freeware or payware if the default planes were only just 80% implemented.  Hey, there's some things that are pointless to simulate on a PC sim (presurization, air-conditioning, etc).  An FMC with basic lateral navigation abilities, or even target altitudes for waypoints, a Garminish GPS that allowed you to enter the whole flight plan rather than merely direct-to.  A little bit better systems implemetation.  Hey, apu's aren't hard, freeware designers do it.  What about more ATC flexiblity?  There's a lot that could be improved on without incurring a lot of additional developement cost or even a higher spec machine to run it on.  There's always going to be payware and freeware no matter what MS does with the main platofrm.  It would be impossible to incorporate everything.  But, it is safe to say that unless MS want's to make the platform that much more in-depth, they should really remove the "as real as it get" catch phrase.

There definitly need to be work done to make the program more framerate friendly. As a Helicopter simmer there needs to be changes made to the ATC to include helicopter approaches to helipads instead if having to do standard aeroplane approaches. As an Aussie i would also like to see the addition of the millibar scale option for altimeters and to include this option in ATC readback.
FS_Pilot

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I think that overall "mass" payware quality is improving  (especially as to what I'm seeing coming down the pipeline that's not been released.)

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And you've just posed an interesting problem.

How many "newbies" are going to want to even enter the freeware content creation field as the bar gets raised higher and higher?

Right now, there are only a few developers, payware or freeware, that can create a full aircraft single-handedly!  Extreme detail in the outside and inside visual models, as well as spot on dials, knobs, levers, buttons, etc. are de rigeur....  What's a newbie to do?

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Yeah, textures can really make an aircraft look so much better. I downloaded textures for Mike's Bristol Britannia, which made the visual model 10x better than with the original textures. Adding a worn look with dirt and staining makes a repaint look much better, too. Much better than a slab of colour applied to the aircraft.

I'm currently trying my first high quality "all by myself" plane...

I had thought I was within a week or two of release a little while ago...err...wait, that was March. Even then the release won't be nearly payware quality...it will simply be good freeware.

I think it would be hard to find any talented designer that wouldn't side with the payware guys on how to value a new creation.

Until the day when somebody sticks a gun in your face and says "Pay up and fly this" you have a choice.

You may not like the choice because you really want a particular subject, but you do have a choice.

Actually, you have another choice. Flight Simulator Design Shop 3 is reasonably priced. Pay that one flat fee and you can have any plane you want for nothing but time.