Well, here we are coming up on three months since my original rant, and guess what, nothing's changed. Only thing that appears to have gotten done is they pulled the plug completely on the primary flight server, so you don't have to wait for it to tell you it's brain dead, saving 30 seconds (see process I outlined above). BUT THE UPDATE SERVER IS STILL COMPLETELY DEAD, WHICH CAUSES THE PROGRAM TO CRASH IF YOU TRY TO ACCESS IT. This also means that if you get a new computer and want to re-install the game, you're stuck with the original version, sans the few patches they've published, which are apparently only available through their server.

What a surprise. Looks like lots of effort going into the G3 launch. Guess Great Planes really doesn't give a hoot. If your out there considering G3, my recommendation is, LOOK ELSEWHERE.