I totally agree with everything you say, Garry. The sims do many things differently and whether you consider those things better or worse than the other sim depends on what sort of flying you enjoy. My reason for buying FSX was to evaluate it in order to see if it would improve my simming experience in the type of flying I most enjoy.
I could probably define that as '
flying classic jet airliners in precision approaches to international airports'.
Obviously, this is a serious evaluation as I've invested £50 in it! I would really like FSX to have enough advantages over FS9 that I would consider migrating to it, so I'm trying hard to give it an objective test. As the VC10 is my most-flown aircraft (just a wee bit more than the 1-11) it is the only add-on I have added to FSX for the test, because if I can't get that flying to my satisfaction then I won't put the effort into the others. I realise the VC10 isn't designed for FSX and Dan and DM have done a fantastic amount of work in getting it there. Dan has also been incredibly helpful in getting it installed correctly and I'm very happy with it. So the VC10 has passed the test! But flying it into airports in FSX is not as much fun as I'd hoped. Apart from the view problem, I have to accept that my machine will not allow me to run the airport traffic features that I would like (particularly animated airport vehicle traffic which is "awesome"

), so the total 'approach to international airports' experience is not even close to my FS9 standard. One option is spending £1000s on a powerful gaming PC....
I have been trying out other aspects of FSX using the missions that are included and have tried carrier ops, helicopters, hang gliders, floatplanes etc. I have to say that they are great fun and flying in 3D animated scenery really does bring the sim alive. It makes FS9 seem clinical, barren and remote. But, although it's fun, I don't enjoy it as much as flying jetliners (yet!) - where you are (hopefully!) too far away from the scenery to enjoy it's benefits. So for smaller a/c flying at lower altitudes and seat-of-the pants stuff, FSX has a hell of a lot to offer.
I'm sticking with it to see if there's a solution to this view thing. I'm still convinced that I'm missing an assignment setting or something. But I can't enjoy flying approaches like that, so I seem to be at an impasse until one of the brothers enlightens me! Meanwhile, I'll stick to FS9 for the big jets and use FSX for getting down and dirty.
As you say, Garry. If you are lucky enough to be able, you don't
have to choose one or the other - why not have it all?
Ian