The biggest issue I have with X-Plane is the developer themselves (notably Austin Meyer). Quite frankly, and in my opinion, the reason X-Plane is constantly chasing the tail of the Flight Simulator series is because of Meyer's reluctance to make changes to the code and GUI to allow easier development and more intuitive use of the software. Even today the program is very much a one man operation, and Meyer protects the software like no other. Essentially unless you have Meyer's blessing, nothing changes in regards to functionality. Now, the development teams out there have done some to bridge the gap, but Meyer has kept the series out of sight on his own accord, and I feel that the program's biggest reason for not being marketed well is Meyer's lack of vision.
Meyer and team has made some "buzz" about new features and whatnot with the software they are working on, but what better time to take advantage of Microsoft's latest news by marketing the
out of the product? I think what is happening is that Meyer is comfortable and has a case of developeritis. His ego kinda gets in the way in this regard perhaps as well. (His ego is well known in developer circles). He somewhat has his little sandbox and doesn't like anyone else playing in it.
Of course, I'll have some people that disagree, but since marketing is my forte I think the developers there have seriously dropped the ball into creating a true replacement, or at least turning a larger market share with the product.
Now, I am willing to be perfectly wrong as time goes on, but as I see it now this is not the FS series killer, nor will it ever be unless those guys over there start considering what made FS such a strong series for independant development companies.
BTW, XPUIPC? What a joke. They make no quarrels that the software is meant essentially to emulate what FSUIPC does. If I was Pete Dawson at FSUIPC, I would be seriously considering talking to these guys and wondering what their intentions are. I don't know much information on it, but I find it rather funny that they are running off of the success of FSUIPC, and claim so even on their own webpage. If Dawson wanted to, I would suspect in a court of law they would have to redo their marketing of XPUIC, and the corrolation to FSUIPC.