Its a double sided sword, the bigger x-plane gets the bigger the market gets. I know people like the romantic idea that a freeware community exists because of the sheer love of people towards each other, the reality is more that it exists because the market is not viable yet.

 

I wrote freeware because there wasn't anything for me personally to use. I wanted to see my town and my airport and I knew this wasn't going to happen so I eventually just made it myself. I also believe that if some of the main freeware developers actually worked together (and I've tried to get collaborations going more times than I can remember) then some really amazing things could be created. I believe this is what made ORBX successful initially, they started out fixing Australia as a team of freeware devs and it went from there (They saw a market and started selling what they do). Now imagine what could be achieved if some of the talent devs we have on X-Plane also did the same.

 

Some payware is also very questionable. There are certain developers out there who are just pushing out low quality products (some even put to shame by freeware) to perhaps get their numbers up. I think one thing ORBX will do if anything will be to set a new standard for scenery and weed out the lower quality overpriced payware, and this is going to be good for consumers, especially X-Planers who are used to paying high-prices for addons which aren't as good as their cousins on FSX. That is a big positive in my book.

 

On a side note, seeing Austin Meyer commenting in the ORBX Facebook page about JV's comment is great. I wonder how long he's wanted to say "I told you so...".

I will pass on Orbx going foward, I purchased a ton of their products and DO NOT LIKE the "you are renting it mode" with FTX Central3.

I've been using X-Plane since version 5 and now everyone seems interested in x-plane, I just hope Austin dosen't turn this sim into another FSX or P3D knockoff.

Time will tell!

So what if he's arrogant or ignorant?  Does it impact you in any way what JV says?  It has everything to do with spite per your comment.  Yes, most people that want to work for money are going to look at market share, that's just good business.  Sorry XP7 thru XP10 (the years I've been using XP) did NOT have good market share and you can put that blame squarely on LR's shoulders, if that weren't the case, then why is XP11 getting more attention ... because it looks better and that is thanks to LR.  But, it's still NOT determined if XP11 will get enough more market share ... I keep hoping it does but if the Xplane user base is "want everything for free" then I don't see much growth happening with XP11.  A good business person will diversify their talents ... deep down the talent is texture manipulation and 3D graphics manipulation ... a common process used in every flight simulator platform (and game platforms).  Orbx have given away more freeware airports/scenery than ANY development company EVER ... and I make that statement with 100% verifiable evidence.

 

Cheers, Rob.

 

Agree to disagree on some of that.  Moving on.

 

I will add this, though.  Even Austin is throwing his opinion in.  

 

So what if he's arrogant or ignorant?  Does it impact you in any way what JV says?

 

 

I think for a company, or a CEO of any company, what's publicly stated does matters a lot.

It's how people (at least for me) perceive the public image of said company.

 

However, I reckon we should all look forward to the increasing popularity in flight sims, as I've always said, healthy competition is a good thing!

I tried XP10 demo years ago and gave up quickly after a few times. So to be fair by then JV's comments seem to me wasn't that far off ... 

 

As a P3D/FSX player I never expected that XP11 could make this quantum leap that gets so many things right. I tried the XP11 demo couple times and I bought it and are hooked to it. That is the difference. 

 

It's hard for me to go back to P3D now. The way it delivers the color, lighting, autogen houses and roads are just so hard to take after flying XP11.

I tried XP10 demo years ago and gave up quickly after a few times. So to be fair by then JV's comments seem to me wasn't that far off ... 

 

As a P3D/FSX player I never expected that XP11 could make this quantum leap that gets so many things right. I tried the XP11 demo couple times and I bought it and are hooked to it. That is the difference. 

 

It's hard for me to go back to P3D now. The way it delivers the color, lighting, autogen houses and roads are just so hard to take after flying XP11.

 

John was way out of line saying what he said.  The timing, the quality of the product...all irrelevant.  I have yet to see a reputable developer make any comments akin to what JV made when talking about Flight Gear, Aerofly, etc...

As a developer, you don't bad mouth a product.  Maybe a little forethought would have influenced his wording.  Perhaps something like, "X-Plane is not for us right now.  The FSX market, in our opinion, is the more viable market.  Down the road...who knows.  Never say never."

Something like that would have gone down far better.  But when you have Austin himself coming in, and commenting about it, it's a big deal.  Austin doesn't do that very often.  In fact, I think this is the first time I've seen him post on any public forum, in the 7 years I've been involved with X Plane.

ORBX have introduced in the other sims new flow technologies: VehicleFlow, NatureFlow, ObjectFlow, PeopleFlow, CreatureFlow, SnowFlow...and more....and they have huge texture libraries and models to bring to xplane...ORBX decision to develop for xplane might bring some innovations to the Xplane platform...Lets wait and see...One of their Natureflow included leaves falling in autumn this reminds me of what Austin said in the presentation about the procedural technique for seasons...

I tried XP10 demo years ago and gave up quickly after a few times. So to be fair by then JV's comments seem to me wasn't that far off ... 

 

As a P3D/FSX player I never expected that XP11 could make this quantum leap that gets so many things right. I tried the XP11 demo couple times and I bought it and are hooked to it. That is the difference. 

 

It's hard for me to go back to P3D now. The way it delivers the color, lighting, autogen houses and roads are just so hard to take after flying XP11.

+1

Well JV constantly trumpets what a thick-skinned, straight talker of hardy Dutch / Australian stock he is, so I'm sure he can handle a bit of online ribbing before he gets to raid our bank accounts again.

"JV ... raid our bank accounts again."

 

Let's hope that day comes soon... 

After reading through this vivid thread here (and elsewhere about ORBX going XPlane) i dare saying that albeit being completely aware of the somehow "questionable" common history ORBX and XPlane may have to share, i remain overall positively surprised and more than ever believe in a bright future for XPlane!

After all that was said and done, ORBX's confirmed presence in the X-Plane arena, is a very positive realization.

 

I'm quite excited to see JV join in the production, and distribution of their quality products to the X-Plane platform. Bringing some of the best payware suppliers on-board X-Plane, will always be a good thing. Great times ahead for flight simulation enthusiasts.

It's funny really, there really isn't a huge difference between XP10 and 11, but XP11 has so far attracted a lot of new users and it hasn't even been released yet. The change between 9 and 10 I think was much more substantial and it failed at the time to attract the disappointed MS Flight crowd. I'm curious what has actually changed for people recently. 

 

After a rather unfortunate 'collision' with an earlier incarnation of XP (no-one was killed, we shook hands amicably and went our own ways afterwards), I would never have anticipated adopting another Sim other than P3D.

 

   How wrong can one be? Within an hour of trying the demo I had purchased the beta and was busily checking out all the visual goodies. Of course it isn't perfect yet (what Sim is?) - but - there is undeniably a certain je ne sais quoi about this version that conveys a very real sense of flying above and through a living, breathing World below that other Sims just fail to impart to me, the end-user. I suspect that it is probably the new lighting system that is responsible for this remarkabe effect but I have no intention of losing sleep over 'whatever' it is and, instead, am now intent on exploring the wealth of amazing scenery addons (and the unexpected bonus of Ortho4XP), to enhance what is already a stable and good-looking SIm "straight out of the box".

 

Kudos to your good self Tony - and also to the myriad of unsung developers out there - who have helped to bring XP to the point it is at today. Outstanding work Gentlemen!

 

A "convert"?  Me??  Whatever gave you that idea??? 

 

p.s. Did I mention the lack of ctd's, stutters, ooms, pop-ups, blurries et.al.?  No? Perhaps best not to then....... 

 

p.s. Did I mention the lack of ctd's, stutters, ooms, pop-ups, blurries et.al.?  No? Perhaps best not to then....... 

 

LOL   :wink:  Perfectly stated 

I've been out of simming for awhile, but still check in from time to time. I think as far as scenery goes, I'd be happy to continue doing my own thing with Ortho4XP and Openstreetmap data. I'm from the old school of flight simming, where freeware was more in abundance because people did it for love of the hobby. Imo, it made for a better community. Over the years, I've seen the MSFS side of things become a bit too toxic for me as the commercialism ramped up. That's one of the things that attracted me to X-Plane. It still felt a bit "rag-tag" in that people did it more out of the enjoyment of creating stuff to share than to make a buck.

 

Don't get me wrong, I don't fault commercial developers as a whole, and I know that the longevity of a sim platform relies on a broad spectrum of products-- free and commercial-- to keep it relevant, but I'd hate to see the X-Plane world's freeware community give way to commercial in the way that the FSX platform did. 

 

So with that, good luck to OrbX if they test these waters. I won't be partaking, should I re-enter the fray.