Mike Stone Retirement

[scon]

This was on his web page


"My Retirement



Some may have already heard this through other sources, but I have retired from aircraft designing. Actually, this dates back a number of weeks.



Basically, I'm tired. I'm tired of trying to please the world, and getting nothing for it.



I'm tired of the attacks, not only on my work, but on me personally.



And then there's Microsoft's never ending mission to make the life of independant developers more and more difficult, while they sit back and rake in the rewards of our efforts.



So some of you can now celebrate. I'm no longer holding a gun to your head and forcing you to use my work. Well, actually, I never was, but you wouldn't know it the way you all act.



And now I've seen on some of the forums that there are those who are criticizing my retirement. Some don't seem to buy into my reasons for doing so. As if I needed their blessing. So typical.



This site will remain up for the time being as its paid up for a while. I retain ownership and copyright on all my work and the conditions for use have not changed. My aircraft are NOT released to the public domain.



To all my many friends and supporters over the years I say thank you.



That's it. I'm off to more rewarding pastimes."





Sad news

[Nunner]

Its always a shame when people leave this hobby and reading between the lines it would seem alot has been either said to Mike or behind his back. If I did what he did and some people were critisising me then all I would say to them is *uck off and as he said he never told people they had to use his work,there are some real tossers about.
To you Mike I have always been happy to use your aircraft,they work well for me in the way that I use them.
Cheers
Nunner

[Jimmy]

When these peoeple that critize his work have 600mhz pcs that can barely run fs, and no graphics card and 128mbs of ram then they might be grateful for his work...

I used alot of his stuff a while back. Didn't he do models for vozai or PAI? They woudl have been good as ai, detail is alright yet great on frames, unlike some aircraft..

and this is precisly why I dont like seeing freeware being critised, even if it not the best.

Well done mike, you did great

[ronindanbo]

Yeh a bit of a sad thing I must say, I was never a fan of Mikes work but I didnt complain about it I just didnt use it as it didnt appeal to my tastes, but I have said this before and I will say it again the FS community has reaped what it sews its a shame that the minority can still get thier own way in this world...

[toprob]

My heart certainly goes out to Mike, I can understand what he's up against, and he's certainly not the first developer to 'retire' in the face of negativity.
It really comes down to your contribution. I'm sure he was proud of what he contributed -- and did it because he loved it. I wonder what the motivation is for those whose contribution is limited to, say, causing someone like Mike to bow out of the hobby?
One thing which I've learned recently is that for every person who contributes positively, there's someone who just wants to tear stuff down. Maybe something to do with cosmic balance, but a bit of a hard lesson to learn at my age:)

[AlisterC]

I noticed that over the weekend when I went there to download his Saab 340. He filled a gap, and everyone knows his name, so it shows how important he became. Might have to send him an email of thanks all the same..

[ronindanbo]

Fact is if no one built a model for FS you could be damned sure Mike did B) But I know how Mike feels as I am seriously considering doing planes just for me now

[scon]

Fact is if no one built a model for FS you could be damned sure Mike did B) But I know how Mike feels as I am seriously considering doing planes just for me now

Oh please don't

[Jimmy]

  Fact is if no one built a model for FS you could be damned sure Mike did cool.gif

precisly, thats why I loved his work. everything from A330s to F111, and he did some stuff for that transload airlines, those models were awsome, B52

I think if someone put a good panel with em, and some good sounds it could have lasted alot longer. That was really an area it lacked, some had panels, but most did not, even if he got permission to use somethign like Ken's airbus panels with his airbusses.. that woudl have been neat...

[brownbox]

errmmm, can someone fill me in on who exactly this Mike Stone is?

[Kelburn]

I downloaded many of his models as they were small (as I was on dial up then) and were quite good looking for something that didn't even change framerates.
I can't believe the news.
He's made so many.

[ZK-Brock]

errmmm, can someone fill me in on who exactly this Mike Stone is?

He's a freeware developer of aircraft for FS9. Most of his work was light on frames, not incredibly detailed and had average flight dynamics and panels, so he only appealed to certain people.

It isn't much of a surprise. Much of the flight simulation community worldwide (excluding flightsim.com, who seem to love his work) didn't appreciate his work. Which was fair enough, it wasn't as good in terms of quality compared to some of the fantastic freeware we get now.

That's not to say that I didn't appreciate Mike's work, because I did - but I think many people decided that his high-quantity approach to aircraft modelling wasn't good for simming, so they rejected his work.

A good thread to look at is here on the Flightsim.com forums if you want more opinions.

[Charl]

There's a saying:
Don't attribute to malice that which you can explain by stupidity.

I've been both sides of the FS fence.

To my shame I will admit to having revved even a Robin Corn freeware creation (my Islander famously crashed when near his Kaikoura terminal building ).
It's just annoying to you at the time, and you don't think of the hours and hours someone has spent on creating the stuff.

Other side of the fence, I enjoyed putting together the GNZLAP project, and it took 100's of hours from me, not to mention the guys who did the real work. After 3,000 downloads, I have a handful of emails from prats who bitched about AI not showing up on their system which hadn't been configured to display AI in the first place. I have no emails of gratitude, joy or happiness. There has been good stuff on this forum, but nothing from Out There. Nil, zero, nada. Unbelievable.

So why on earth do it at all?
Of course, the answer is: because other guys have.
So you reap the benefit from their labours, and get the satisfaction of putting your own handiwork out there for the world to see.
Even if only 1 other guy enjoys it, you've increased the world's pleasure 100%.
The moment you stop enjoying doing it, you should quit, and that's what I think has happened to Mike (and others.)

No question, crapware rightly deserves to be ignored in the strongest possible terms, what kind of ego would put bad stuff in the mouths of his fellow simmers?
Swat 'em, make 'em stop enjoying churning out rubbish, before they become a nuisance.
But be sure you are educated enough to make the call.

Mmm I am ranting a bit.
Back to the issue:
Mike's problem was that people expected stuff from him that was not intended, and made uneducated comments about it.
A pox on them.
I only ever used his stuff for AI because it was clearly downspecced.
I'm sure it filled a necessary niche for many others too.
If Mike made a mistake, it was to take any notice of uninformed comment.
Whatever, he made his mark in the simming community, and will be remembered.

[cowpatz]

It is always a shame to see someone whom has contributed so much to the flt simming community depart in this way. This hobby is equally divided between the ignorant and the passionate and sometimes the communication and actions of both comes across as being one and the same. There are advantages and pitfalls to freeware and as simmers we need to get that into perspective.
Dan, I for one are having great fun flying your SAAB 2000. It has become a favorite, even though at the moment it does have limitations. I for one would be saddened should you decide to go reclusive.

[Alex]

Sad to hear him finishing off modelling, like others have said above, if noone else has done it - you can be sure Mike has.

Alex

[scon]

The thing that annoyed me the most was that Mike did aircraft for himself and was kind enough to share with the rest of the community, and the people that downloaded his work and later bashed it obviously wanted a model that mike had made, so lucky them that someone had gone out of there way to share there work and if you don't like it to bad or try do a better one yourself.

That's my 2cents worth but quite frankly this pisses me off I think I will send Mike an email say thanks for all the work he has done.

Regards, Scott

[Chookie]

errmmm, can someone fill me in on who exactly this Mike Stone is?

You've got to be kidding!

Even I know who Mike Stone is!

I don't mean to stir anything up, but you Flight Simmer's really do expect the world from people who design stuff for FS. You'll never know how much time and effort these people put into what they do, until you do it yourself.

I can totally see where Charl is coming from. When Craig helped him do GNZLAP, he spent all the spare time he had making AFCADS, and the only thanks he got was from Charl.

A little recognision wouldn't go astray ya know

[JonARNZ]

I'm surprised Mike lasted as long as he did given the way some people talked about his work, his longevity was a credit to the man, not the community.

I never used a large amount of his work, however some of his stuff is excellent, and as some have said, he often filled a gap left by others.

[jastheace]

it seems to be the way things work these days, you work yuor butt off and provide something to fill a niech and you get nothing but critisim, i have seen many a free developer leave this way, not just on flightsim either. i think we should all say a big THANKS to all the freeware develpoers, without them flight sim would not be as we know it today, we wouldn't get teh enjoyment and realisim that we have.

so Thanks to all the freeware developers around the world for what you have done

(getting of my soapbox now )

[gokanru]

So sad that another legend has gone down.I have used a few of Mikes aircraft,even modified some of the panels to my own taste,but like a lot of others I never criticized his work,after all,it was freeware and it filled the gap.I take my hat off to all developers,because without them FS wouldn't be what it is today.Good on ya Mike,and thank you for the pleasure that I got from using your aircraft


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