Interesting discussion but an important topic. I have been involved in flight simulation both as a hobby and as a teaching tool since the first arrived with micro-computers back in the 1990's. WE forget that the original simulator came about as solution to a problem, how to create visually on a computer screen moving objects in more that one apparent dimension (X+Y+Z). MS came to dominate because they were good at two things; they gobbled up any competitors but more importantly they used the sim as a tool to sell computers and Microsoft Windows, it was a fun add-on for your customers to play around with a bit like solitaire. They also had a crack at the gamer market via CFS, Train Simulators etc but eventually gave that away as well. To my mind the last incarnation Flight was an attempt to steer buyers into the pay as you go model, ala Apple and Itunes. But we also ignore two very other important things that happened. The first was mobile phones or hand held PC's and Laptops, both made serious inroads into the traditional PC or Tower Box. MS has also had to deal with the reality that Java and HTML revolutionised information processing and sharing via the WWW. Google stole everybody's lunch there.
Now, if you look at the two current updated and properly coded sim programs, they are targeted at different markets, P3D is a viable platform because it is being bolted into the world of defence training and simulation otherwise Lockheed Martin would not have bothered, they are probably subsidising it but they will get the return via integrated training and software platforms on military hardware and software. X-Plane is a serious software outcome but they have moved in a different direction providing a tool and system that aeronautical engineers and students can use to design and test ideas, which is why it is well supported across engineering faculties world wide. In the mean time PC gaming and game programs have exploded and are very very popular and good money makers, ala World of War Craft, Pokemon etc. Now lets all remember the elephant in the room, GOOGLE. Google have combined their amazing planetary coverage in pictures (pixels) in real world images, maps etc with the basics of a flight simulator and that includes the 3D object changes needed to give a solid or 3D appearance. Try the Google application you will be amazed because it offers a combined realism with the power of GOOGLE computing to give you the best scenery ever (its real). Now will there be a way to integrate or use simulator models such as FSX or X-Plane in the Google sim? Maybe maybe not but they are not going away.
From my perspective I am stuck with the hardware and software environment I currently have (a HP Tower and Win 7) but I have no interest in buying a new PC, why? because everyone else in this household uses an I-Phone or Android or I-PAD for their computing and entertainment needs, so I have no need for a new PC. Grandchildren can connect to the internet via the TV or Plasma screen and play very very complex and graphically amazing games that way. And lastly despite a life time in the aviation industry nobody in my family near or far has any interest in aviation what so ever, zilch, other than who has the cheapest ticket to wherever. I saw the same thing happen for real in aviation as the market vanished, light aircraft vanished and the major hull manufacturers consolidated down to a couple, in other words the Golden Age of Aviation is over as well. I have boxes full of disks of long gone flight simulator programs but at least FSX got to the stage where the graphics are great, the models are great and I can with a little work add in models from the past that I know will never be recreated in the future. I can probably keep that going for ten years plus by which stage I will be sufficiently aged to probably not be able to find the PC let alone see it (LOL). What I want is a new paradigm not just an improvement and only GOOGLE at the moment offers that tantalising prospect, they have the money, do they have the interest?
Now I am a serious simulator user and it is FSX-A. I see no benefit to me to move to P3D but I may consider X-Plane, maybe, as for DTG well good on them but they will find the market is not what they think so unless they can attract gamers it will be game over for them too. But and here is the big but, if I could use the current simulator models I have with Google Sim or there was a way to integrate into that system I would be into it like a shot, why because it makes obsolete scenery design, weather engines etc and the only thing it needs is a good user interface aka a sim model to really explore virtual reality.
