Since the release of FS9, the addons (esp the FREE ones) have transformed it!! M$ have picked up on those ideas and incorporated addon like improvements into their new FSX which of course isn't FREE!!! It's called marketing!! For what other reason would they produce a "deluxe" version other than to make even more money out of us!! That's also called marketing!!!
That's called improving the product by incorperating the best of the addons wether free or payware. It has become obvious over the last few weeks that the Deluxe version will be the version optimised for Vista and DX10. Yes it's marketing, very good marketing, as 80% of the FS population won't be upgrading their computers and those that do will buy both versions, standard when it comes out .... and deluxe once Vista and DX10 become available and they have upgraded.
As for the EU they DID win the legal argument against the monopolistic stance of M$. (monopolies are not as popular in Europe as in the US)
This is why here in Europe we can use windows programmes like XP that allow us now to use third party addons.
This won't stop FSX or Vista being sold... and I'm not going to say what I think of European rulings. There's no problem using 3rd party stuff in the U.S. That's not what the E.U. ruling is about.
FSX hopefully will be a good sim but only if they have addressed core issues like ATC SIDS STARS for example. If it turns out to be just FS9 with missions then for me it's not worth the buy!! One thing I would like to see go is the fact we have to use both 2D and 3D cockpits! One would be enough as in FlyII (fully operational - all dials - knobs - buttons etc)To compare both sims in their "basic" state flyII comes out better with better basic scenery, better flight planning, better cockpits, better ground effect. Worse ATC, clouds, no AI. Not bad for one disc!!!!
Let's hope F$ give us what WE want and not what THEY want!!
I think it's already been established that there can only be so much put into any version of Flightsim ......... FSX will be an improvement over FS9 that is evident from the screenshots and videos. Microsoft have already listened to the FS community and continue to do so. However not everyone will believe that they do. The one thing that will become evident once it is released is that not everyone will be happy about it......... that's life.