With the economy spiraling further and further into a hole, Microsoft announced yesterday it was laying of 5000 employees. We learned today, though still officially unconfirmed by Microsoft, that the cuts include the disbanding of the ACES Studio team which is responsible for Flight Simulator. It appears as though the venerable flight simulator, which has been around since 1982, is no more.When mega businesses like Boeing or Microsoft eliminate jobs, the impact reverberates throughout the economy. The loss of 5000 Microsoft jobs is a huge blow in its own right, but the Flight Simulator community, which is truly global, will feel the loss as well. Many developers make their living creating addons for the program. The impact is far from localized.
As many of you know, I am an avid user of Flight Sim as well, having flown one version or another since 1995. In no uncertain terms, Flight Sim cultivated my love of aviation and helped me get to where I am today. I joke with my mother that all those times she was yelling at me during High School to do my homework and stop shooting ILS approaches to Kai Tai, I was really just getting job training for the future.
Microsoft Flight Simulator was an institution both personally and for the aviation community and its loss will be strongly felt.
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