Out of interest I have only just changed my CH gear. For 10 years my gameport set has given perfect service and using dual boot I was able to programme the set with the old software through Win98 before rebooting back into XP to use. As the old CH gear retains the last template loaded, I hardly ever needed to use Win98! The set had the Combat Stick
My replacement - again all CH includes the Fighterstick instead. As mentioned elsewhere the stick is identical except that with more four way hats in place of buttons so you get another 6 places to put a command.
The only difficulty I have is retraining myself on the changes to the mapping that has been much the same since AHII came out. Overall changes to the gameport set include toe brakes on pedals now available and a mini stick on the throttle that I have assigned to mouse control.
Oh yes and with 3 modes available I can assign 3 commands to each button, only I won't! - I would suffer overload trying to remember it all!
I would recommend the Pro-pedal/Pro-throttle/Fighterstick to anyone. initial outlay is not cheap but when you compare the working life of the kit and its reliability, it works out a darn sight cheaper than most gear!
The Gameport gear I regret has been forced into retirement purely by need to go USB - it otherwise still works perfectly.