[nearmiss]

Interesting

I remember how everyone loved the old MSFT CFS2 and the following was huge.

IL2 had no acceptance equal to the CFS2, and all the interest was in CFS2.

MSFT kept dragging their feet and people began to gravitate towards IL2, principally because Oleg kept improving it with FB,etc.

Then MSFT hired some bimbo dev named hatfield. That dude was put in charge of CFS development. Instead of improving the CFS2 he rebuilt it, and what a fiasco. The IL2 had better graphics then and still does than the CFS3 and MSFT pored a hunk of money into developing CFS3.

So it doesn't surprise me MSFT would drop the entire FS series. Afterall, the FSX graphics are supposed to be the top of the line and yet the third party guys are still producing much better graphics.

The real facts about all the layoffs/firings:

Effectively, MSFT is just like all the rest of the American companies dropping their workforce. Do you have any idea how difficult and problematic firing an American worker actually is? I mean it is outrageous difficult firing anyone anymore.
Minorities(racial,religious,sex,handicapped,etc) are extremely difficult to fire. They all seem to go to an attorney, and the attorneys refer them to EEOC for investigation of their grievances. The lawyers let the EEOC find if there is anything wrong before they expend any effort. If the EEOC finds a viable issue in their investigation the employment lawyer takes the employer to court.

It's not just about minorities, it's about any employee that you terminate that isn't happy with termination. You never hear it said but it is a a fact, "The American worker has too many rights and bad attitutude towards his/her employer and his job". It's always about them and us, the suits and the overalls, etc.

So, like all the rest of the companies MSFT is just gleaning out the weeds like everyone else. They are getting rid of anyone they view as difficult or otherwise just not what they want. They can use the economy as an excuse and no one is the wiser. It is very easy to explain to an employee you are firing, that economic conditions are just so bad it has to be done.