ProFlight Simulator

Flightgear is well worth a look at, especially the default scenery with local ANO's, landmarks, etc. which are outstanding. The Flightgear team really need a friendly international copyright lawyer (or a damned good hacker) to get after these Proflight scum.

Flightgear is licensed under the GPL which allows for others to take the code and build from it. These ProFlight people do the bare minimum needed to meet the requirements of the GPL, so there isn't much the Flightgear team can do legally.

Flightgear is licensed under the GPL which allows for others to take the code and build from it. These ProFlight people do the bare minimum needed to meet the requirements of the GPL, so there isn't much the Flightgear team can do legally.

That's annoying for all of us, not just the Flightgear team. It's their choice then, to stick with the GPL as per their founding ethos, or go for a legally protected intellectual rights licence. In this day and age I'd recommend that they protect their intellectual rights, no-one could begrudge them that surely.

The GPL is legally protected, it just has different goals than commercial closed source licences. One of the primary reasons for choosing the GPL is to ensure the code remains open and others can use it. As long as someone is interested in Flightgear it will be developed. In many, if not most cases this works well (Linux, GIMP, Darktable, among many others), however, there is always someone out there who will abuse the system (there have been con artists around long before computers existed).

On the other hand, no one can update FS2004 because it is closed source and Microsoft has lost interest. Wouldn't it be nice if the bugs could be worked out so it could run without trouble on Windows 10? It wouldn't be the first time a company has open sourced their old products. Quake 3, Doom 3, Marathon and many others are available.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_commercial_video_games_with_available_source_code

I doubt Micro$oft would ever release the code for anything, no matter how long it's been off the market or "no longer supported". LucasArts, now part of the Disney empire, was just as bad; responding to inquiries not with a polite "no" but with mean spirited tirades threatening lawsuits if the third party continued their endeavors.

As Shakespeare wrote, "first thing we do, kill all the lawyers". As witness this tale of Night Dive's attempts to get the rights to update the classic NOLF2 -

http://kotaku.com/the-sad-story-behind-a-dead-pc-game-that-cant-come-back-1688358811

I doubt Micro$oft would ever release the code for anything, no matter how long it's been off the market or "no longer supported".

That was true 5-10 or more years ago, however, Microsoft has considerably changed their tune regarding open source software. They have released the core of .NET as open source, and are releasing and using open source software elsewhere.

https://blogs.msdn.microsoft.com/dotnet/2014/11/12/net-core-is-open-source/

https://opensource.microsoft.com/

Visual Studio Code is an open source text editor.

https://code.visualstudio.com/

And the Windows source code is managed using the open source source git version control system.

https://techcrunch.com/2017/05/24/microsoft-now-uses-git-and-gvfs-to-develop-windows/

I don't see them releasing any of the FS series though, as that would likely upset Lockheed and Dovetail.

That was true 5-10 or more years ago, however, Microsoft has considerably changed their tune regarding open source software. They have released the core of .NET as open source, and are releasing and using open source software elsewhere.

 

https://blogs.msdn.microsoft.com/dotnet/2014/11/12/net-core-is-open-source/

 

https://opensource.microsoft.com/

 

Visual Studio Code is an open source text editor.

 

https://code.visualstudio.com/

 

And the Windows source code is managed using the open source source git version control system.

 

https://techcrunch.com/2017/05/24/microsoft-now-uses-git-and-gvfs-to-develop-windows/

 

I don't see them releasing any of the FS series though, as that would likely upset Lockheed and Dovetail.

Open source and M$ go together like crap and popsicle.

I don't see them releasing any of the FS series though, as that would likely upset Lockheed and Dovetail.

Unless MS already offered them the earlier versions but Lockheed and Dovetail weren't interested, we'll never know.

The GPL is legally protected, it just has different goals than commercial closed source licences. One of the primary reasons for choosing the GPL is to ensure the code remains open and others can use it. As long as someone is interested in Flightgear it will be developed. In many, if not most cases this works well (Linux, GIMP, Darktable, among many others), however, there is always someone out there who will abuse the system (there have been con artists around long before computers existed).

 

On the other hand, no one can update FS2004 because it is closed source and Microsoft has lost interest. Wouldn't it be nice if the bugs could be worked out so it could run without trouble on Windows 10?

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Well, by adding on scenery, planes etc. to FS2004, it does become an 'updated' in a personal way.

As far as bugs & Windows 10 goes, my 3 versions of FS2004 work perfectly within Windows 10, actually a bit smoother as well.

I also have Flightgear, & it's a very worthwhile download. Great scenery & planes.

May be worth a mention that I have noticed this Pro Flight Sim that turns out to be just Flightgear being promoted in a variety of guises now. I receive at least one Spam email about it every month but worse, know somebody who fell for this and parted with GBP £87.50 before I was able to stop them ... OUCH!

I got the impression that Flightgear actually ripped off Flight Sim 2002 to a great extent especially once I had bought the six Worldwide Scenery CDs for GBP £4.99. But on the whole it was not a bad effort considering that it was actually a free sim but it still failed to dissuade me away from the MS Flight Simulator legacy of programmes.

Ended up selling it to another friend for £15 with Worldwide Scenery disks and a fairly basic joystick for him to use with it after his PC quit on him so I recuperated my costs of ever owning Flightgear. Unlike I am sorry to say my other friend who chose to remain £87.50 lighter having become sick of Pro Flight Simulator talking in riddles every time they responded to him. Basically meaning that he had fat chance of seeing a penny back from them: He had got what he had paid for.

TOTAL SHAM!