Interesting Xplane comment from Orbx

[Garys]

A quote  from John Venema of Orbx on xplane. Interview can be viewed here  http://fsxpage.com/interviews-2/john-venema-von-orbx/2/

"X-Plane has no future. It's not a good sim, nor does it have a large enough customer base to make it worth our while. It performs really poorly on hardware with settings maxxed out, unlike FSX which now screams along with new Intel and nVidia hardware"

I have to say that it is a pretty narrow minded comment considering the company isnt yet profitable and other software guys like aerosoft are making the switch. There are converters out there that work to switch fsx scenery into xplane. I don't think it would be to much of a hassle for a company like Orbx to make its own converter and tap into a new market for more income. A harsh comment but I guess it's to be expected when they have all their eggs in the FSX and ESP market. Shame really.

Gary

[Nat Crea]

I wouldn't stress...Knowing John (he and a few ORBX staff actually flew my Sim years ago)
he has a lot of time/money invested in FSX, his comment doesn't surprise me.

We just need to get ORBX airports running in XP10!

Nat

[XOrionFE]

I agree with Gary.  Very narrow minded is a good description.   Not only narrow minded but very uneducated.   Remember when we all were crying when FSX came out that there was no hardware that could run it maxed.  Well MS at the time had made the software with future hardware in mind so it could grow.   And grow it has.  Unfortunately it has now outgrown FSX in that FSX is not build to take advantage of 64 bit processing or the gpu's coming out.  It can only take advantage of limited CPU cores etc.   If MS had kept the franchise going they would have had a new version by now that supported all this but alas...that hope seems gone forever.   Now if in fact Lockheed makes radical changes in the code for P3D and does come out with 64 bit at some point that could be a game changer for the software and Orbx will be well positioned to take advantage of it.   But that is a big if also.

Now back to X-Plane, his comment that it performs poorly is partially correct if you related to the experience we all had making the shift from FS9 to FSx in that if your hardware is mediocre you are going to have to keep your rendering down....but...they built XP to take full advantage of GPU power as well as all the CPU cores one can throw at it.  Also keep in mind that really XP9 is the build closest in terms of timeframe it came out that FSX is and XP9 will scream on todays hardware as well.   XP10 is a whole step up and newer technology than XP9 and FSX.  And now with the addition of X-Plane 64 bit ther is no limit to the amount of memory one can throw at it.   This means that as new hardware comes online XP can take full advantage of it and the rendering can be turned up while developers can make more and more fantastic addons.   XP models each and every object in its world as its own item with its own physical properties.  Cars and boats, planes, lights, buildings, trees, clouds, etc each participate together to build the world and deliver an experience much closer to reality than FSX or P3D in there current form could ever hope to.   Yes, this takes power to run but think of the possibilities...  This is also probably why the design of X-Plane for multiple views requires multiple computers.   It is a beast for sure but through horspower at it and you have something wonderful that blows away FSX even with ORBX (IMHO).

Yes, I believe his comments were not only short sited but if taken for there face value very ignorant.  Of course they may not be born out of ignorance at all but out of the plain and simple fact that he has poured all of his eggs in one basket and needs to justify it to himself and others.

Won't effect my opinion of X-Plane in the least.   I was an early adopter of FSX and now am of X-Plane and to me the future looks very bright.

I invite any serious builder on this forum to come see for your own eyes on my setup what XP looks like in comparison and make up your own mind.   However, be forewarned...once you do the genie is out of the bottle.

Too bad ORBX feels this way because if he shifted gears and combined ORBX with X-Plane it would take our sim world to a whole new plateau.  But no fear, Aerosoft seems to be doing more and more and others like Realscenery are making awesome scenery for X-Plane.



Scott

[Maurice]

There are converters out there that work to switch fsx scenery into xplane. I don't think it would be to much of a hassle for a company like Orbx to make its own converter and tap into a new market for more income

Gary

The problem with any scenery converters is that the converted scenery would very likely be of no better quality than the FSX scenery. I would think that to take full advantage of the great features of XP really requires scenery specifically designed for XP.

But I don't think XP users have anything to worry about. It is really only a matter of time before the XPlane scenery market expands exponentially regardless of what ORBX does unless Austin Meyers decides to pack it in & get out of this business like Microsoft did

Maurice

[nicd]

Anything that guy does and says is about one thing ... making money. Take with a very large dose of salt, or better still, ignore it and look forward to a better future with non MS sims (even for me .. one day!).

[Kennair]

Anything that guy does and says is about one thing ... making money.

Yeah, just ask him how much he wants for a commercial license on any of his scenery, staggering!

Ken.

[nicd]

Anything that guy does and says is about one thing ... making money.

Yeah, just ask him how much he wants for a commercial license on any of his scenery, staggering!

Ken.

LOL Ken - precisely!  I did once.. never again .  I said nah.. I was wanting to buy some bgl files of the Melbourne Airport, not buy the bloody airport itself!!