Well, everyone's back from Oshkosh and things are a bit busier desite the great weather outside. Reports from the 'big show' were all positive. Apparently everyone had a great time meeting customers and showing them the product. It's always interesting hearing what people have to say about the product, especially those who have never bought it or who haven't owned a copy recently. Most people are amazed by 3 things:

 

First they are amazed at the recent advancements in computer graphics. Many don't play games or use other graphical applications on their computers. If they have a memory of Flight Simulator it's likely from a time when it was clearly computer generated art. These days they are blown away by the visual quality of the aircraft, terrain and weather. Our booth this year featured a second monitor for each station positioned above the main unit so people watching from a few feet away could clearly see the action.

 

The second thing that gets people, especially real pilots, is the level or accuracy and fidelity in the product. Many of them have an image of FS as 'a game' (although it's not clear to me why that is--it's not very game-like) and are suprised that we include just about every airport, navigational aid and instrument approach in the world. They compare us to pilot-oriented IFR simulators and marvel at how little those programs have compared with FS. In fact, the easiest way to sell Flight Sim to a real pilot is to ask them what airport they fly out of. Chances are it's a small airport--one normal PC flight simulators would never consider including. And when you tell them, "Sure we have it. In fact let me show you what it looks like," the next question is, "Where can I buy this?"

 

And that leads to number 3--the price. Most people (again, especially pilots who are used to paying top dollar for everything) simply refuse to believe it costs what it does. It's always less than a hundred bucks at retail--usually much less after it's been on the shelves a while. Talking to a group of pilots who are used to buying $10 paper charts every two months, 30 or 40 bucks for FS seems like a steal.

 

So that's the way it went during the week. Oh, and I guess they had some other stuff (airplanes, famous aviators, billionnaires, etc.) at Oshkosh as well.