Now It’s Personal…

I knew the economy was in a freefall, but somehow I had expected (maybe hoped is the better word) that I would be minimally impacted in the short term.  I guess that was not to be.

On Friday, 23 January, Microsoft announced it would lay off 5,000 employees.  I guess I was naïve, but I somehow assumed that the people who were being laid off were in the software division dealing primarily with the Windows operating system or with the MSN division.  You can imagine my surprise when I found out today that part of the group being laid off was its Aces Studio Division.  These are the people who make the only Microsoft game that I really am interested in: Microsoft Flight Simulator.  As it turns out six out of 50+ employees are left in that division today and those who are remaining have the function of cleaning up the archives and turning out the light.  In other words, to quote Monty Python, “Microsoft Flight Simulator is a dead parrot.”

I enjoy flight simulator. It is one of my few vices and I really can’t completely convey the sadness I feel knowing that the current version I have is the last version that will ever be.  I’ve played – no, I’ve invested in this game and bought every new version since 1994.  I’m sorry these people lost their jobs, but I’m really, really sorry I’ve lost a great little vice.