What is the “Official” name of this flight simulator.
I am assuming MSFS is the official name, however, everyone continues to refer to the software as MSFS2020. What do we call it in a few months, MSFS2021 ??
No you call it MSFS 2020 cause thats when it was released. Like Flight Sim 98, 2004 etc 
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Makes sense.
I call the current version MSFS2020rc2 as a very polite reminder to MS/Asobo that I do not yet consider it a final release version. In a few months? Probably MSFS2020rc3 or MSFS2020 final.
A little humour should be acceptable even by a multi-billion $$ corporation. 
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The official name for this particular sim is Microsoft Flight Simulator.
However, many people including myself use shorthand like MSFS or FS 2020. The year 2020 marking the year of release, something that several of the previous generations used in their formal names. For example:
- Microsoft Flight Simulator 95
- Microsoft Flight Simulator 98
- Microsoft Flight Simulator 2000
- Microsoft Flight Simulator 2004 - A Century of Flight.
The previous flight simulator, FSX, broke that convention and it would seem Microsoft decided to stay away from using a year formally.
My hope is, Microsoft intends to develop and release MSFS in a similar fashion to that of Windows and Office 365, which is to say no new products, but instead an ever-evolving series of improvements over time.
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The reason for the early release. It had to be jn 2020 otherwise the name wouldn’t match anymore🤪
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it has never officially had 2020 in the title it was the flight sim community who gave it the 2020 the offical name is “microsoft flight simulator”
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Since 2020 and 20 is XX in Roman Numerals, they “could” have called it FSXX and really confused everyone …
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Lol based on the level of bugs and the way this year has gone…
2020 is the perfect designation for it 
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Technically it’s MFS, since Microsoft is one word.
Should have gone MSFS MMXX and really knocked it out of the park. The confusion then would have been unprecedented.
Now that’s just silly! 
Well, at least SOmething GOOD happened in 2020?
yaaay for Microsoft Flightsimulator
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2020
regards,
Steiny
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Microsoft has always been abbreviated as “MS”.
MS DOS, MS Word, MS Paint, MS Office etc.
My hope is, Microsoft intends to develop and release MSFS in a similar fashion to that of Windows and Office 365, which is to say no new products, but instead an ever-evolving series of improvements over time.
Eeeek please no. 
I love MS and I use their shop quite frequently: I ordered my TM Airbus Officer Pack for this sim from them, have the 365, and am even planning to get the 365 family plan. I love how those are subscription based but I’d rather have MSFS be within one subscription plan with the XBOX game pass.
I’d probably sign up for a MSFS subscription but that’s going to be another line item on the bill! 
I am not suggesting a separate subscription for MSFS, I already have enough with Office 365 (Family), GitHub Pro and possibly Xbox Gamepass Beta soon™. Instead I was referring to the new development paradigm they seem to have adopted.
If we take Windows as an example. Microsoft used to release an operating system, and support a 10-year cycle, with the first five years potentially having feature updates and the later years being focused purely on security. Eventually they would release a new operating system, and you would have to buy Windows all over again to get the new features and continued support.
Now days you only need to buy it once per significant hardware combo (I think they tie the licence to your mobo). Office has followed a similar design and release pattern; however, you need a monthly sub to keep getting those updates. By the way, the family version is well worth it if you have multiple people/computers, I have saved thousands since I switched to 365 family.
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Oh, in that case I totally agree. 
In the currently direction MS’s going, Xbox Game Pass as a gaming service for example, I think that’s going to happen, if not already happening.
A big caveat though is that you’ll also see plenty of arguably “unfinished” games being that they’re going to be updated anyhow. But Games as a Service is becoming more and more the norm everyday (e.g., Classical MMOs, some games -to an extent- you find in EA Play [Anthem], UPlay+ [TD], Xbox Gamepass [MSFS], etc.), so I imagine resistance towards this paradigm in the market to wane in the foreseeable future esp if expectations are set properly.
It’s always a good feeling to be invested in a software where devs are also actively working on improving it. Not the least of those is MSFS.
But yeah, I love how MS stuck with the MS FS [YYYY] naming convention unlike how they completely made the Xbox Series (console) super confusing! I hope people buying them as gifts know the difference between the Xbox Series X and the Xbox One X! 
(also, thanks for the recommendation, I wasn’t sure about the family 365 after talking (well, chatting - late saturday night last night) to their customer service. I’ll probably sign up this week! Just need to test a few things (setting up shared folders so that they appear in my parent’s file explorers lol))
Not the most appropriate discussion in this thread, but if you want to discuss 365 family, and why I love it so much, send me a PM.