So…um…will in need to upgrade my 12 bps modem? 
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I guess they forgot that it is not only about the visuals ( or I hope they will not forget ). Like good ATC and so on. These things can be a game changer for many and does not require terabytes of storage. Just sayin’ …
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What I would like to see (perhaps) is streaming delivering, but also the ability to save that data to your hard drive for those of us with many terabytes of storage on hand. That way you wouldn’t have to redownload, and in the event you did want to go “offline” (by choice or otherwise), you’d still have a playable sim. Even a base layer of relatively low def terrain should be the very least available…
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Yeah that’s an extremely double edged sword.
I cannot complain about my Internet connection, most of the time I have the full 50Mbit/s available, and a decent ping. And I am looking forward to not having 300+GB of terrain on my PC.
But being offline is a thing.
I hope the sim doesn’t just crash or freeze but provides a FSX-style low quality map at least.
I also hope they were only referring to the (of course prepared) terrain data getting transferred. Why should they stream all the game data, like the flight model computation or what I am clicking in my plane and the FMS does. That would be pretty silly. I also think that quite some of the visual processing should be done on the client, just like in, say, Google Earth.
Or, rather than a low definition world in case you are off line, maybe allow you to download scenery by region (like Orbx). So you can have your “favorite” area(s) available any time.
Since it is supposedly all in the cloud, I also wonder what the business model will be. If it will be software as a service with a regular fee rather than an outright purchase.
Hardly sustainable for them to not make it a service.
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There’s a promised 25 July update on FS site
https://fsi.microsoftstudios.com/
Why is there FSX logo at the end?
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AVISIM?
Do they mean AVSIM?
Edit. Yes they did, apparently. Article was updated. 
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I am… completely OK with this being a streaming thing.
It sounds like a whole different breed of game.
Heck streaming ain’t new, but requiring a supercomputer to render way past what a home-pc can do? How cool is that! Like having access to the NSA Big Brother to play a game. And for the first of this new breed to be a flight sim? Oh heys yeah! Maybe it will run on one of these.
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Seems from their update that “no subscription” is going to be a thing.
That is not sustainable. They’d have to drop the title entirely after a predetermined amount of time.
Either that or funding by other means.
For example they might use that terrain rendering technique for something similar to Google Earth, too, and use advertising income to cross-finance it.
Maybe also finance it by selling plane addons.
If you think about it, the whole terrain streaming things has interesting possibilities…
- Real time updates for geographic changes like volcanos and earthquakes
- bit by bit construction updates as roads, bridges and major buildings are built
- Temporary hazards such as construction cranes near airports (NOTAMS updates)
- Technically the ability to switch terrains and fly on Mars or the moon.
I’m excited. 
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I wasn’t a big fan of this whole thing- but yeah… your post @Hangar200, honestly and unsarcastically, changed my mind.
…and rising sealevels could be modelled as well!
This are indeed exciting possibilities, but I’m a little worried it is going to be quite resource heavy for MS to keep the whole world updated all the time.
I don’t see how terrain streaming specifically makes this possible. Wasn’t this already possible in X-plane for example?
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Yeah, but now without having to download a Gropezillion of GB of data… and as soon as NASA has discovered more- it could be updated without issues! 
No seriously, this is cool!
The data is also from Bing Maps, so it’s being used for other things. There’s even likely more offerings of the map data than we know of for commercial purposes. So quite possibly we are just piggybacking on another project. I would gather having the most accurate model of the world could be more than lucrative enough to MS to bankroll MSFS for free.
Just another idea.
Ugh.
Sorry, but I just don’t like the whole thing. From the search engine to … well everything.
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I’m with you on that. All hail our Google overlords. Hahaha
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