A long time, I would imagine. Activation support is costing them almost nothing (five minutes of a telephone operator in Delhi's time). The product is still in the shops, so I do not think that we should worry too much.
Best wishes
Steve P
To repeat something I said on the Old Hanger forum:
* FSX is still on store shelves. Unless I hear otherwise, MS will continue to sell it, even though no new releases are planned.
* If they stop making FSX today; it could be years before all the copies are sold. (I also picked up a NIB copy of FS2004 this month, and have seen
FS2002 for sale still.)
* THEN; once all the copies are gone; development will still continue on; as evident here; there are still new items coming out for FS98 and CFS1!
* THEN; even when MS makes good on it's promise to make Windows 64-bit only; all 32-bit versions of FS (from FS98 on) will probably continue to work for years to come (IF the FS98 installer isn't 16-bit.)
* Even when 32-bit programs stop working on Windows XX; that may
still not be the end. There is still a following for Commodore 64 programs running on an emulator on Windows PCs! So while the news last week was bad for ACES and FS11; don't expect MSFS to disappear any time soon. If, as suggested in another forum, the tendency will be to move to "dumbed down" console games; it wouldn't have a replacement any time soon, if ever. That could mean FS will be a "cult classic" for decades to come; for those who remember growing up with it.
I think the earlier versions will end up outliving FSX, because at some point that telephone operator in New Delhi will say "you want to register WHAT?" :faint: