Jump to content
Sign in to follow this  
rsrandazzo

A few notes regarding PMDG's position on P3D development

Recommended Posts

Captains-

 

Over the past couple of weeks we have watched an absolutely stunning amount of misinformation being spread about the forums regarding PMDG's development agenda, or lack of development agenda with respect to Lockheed Martin's P3D platform.

 

The vast majority of this complaining behavior has been grossly uninformed, and in some cases completely wrong.

 

PMDG will have a more formal announcement regarding our position on Lockheed Martin's P3D platform at a future date.  While we would have liked to have that announcement out earlier- we are still awaiting some feedback from Boeing and our legal counsel that will determine what form (if any) our development effort will take on the P3D platform.  Once we have that information we will likely require some position clarification from the folks at Lockheed Martin- and then we'll give you an idea what our position is regarding P3D.

 

Please recognize that here have been a couple of real loud-mouthed-complainers going on about the fact that I have said PMDG will not develop for P3D.  What I ACTUALLY said in repeated messages in this forum over the past year has been quite a bit more nuanced- and I haven't come down finally on one side or the other because we needed some details to shake out before we could make a decision.

 

(I am using the word "nuanced" intentionally.)

 

We have intentionally been killing off discussion on this topic not because we don't want to tell you what we are thinking- but because we have not been able to get clear direction from some key players in the decision making process- and without that information we are unable to make a decision.  Any discussion here in the forum is- to be blunt, worthless to the actual decision making process.

 

It might seem a bit shocking to hear me tell you that the opinions of our faithful FSX customers regarding P3D are unimportant- but here is why:  Unless you are our legal counsel, Boeing or Lockheed Martin- you really don't have a place at the table when we are making strategic decisions with real-world legal and real-world liability implications.  If Boeing will not allow us to make the changes that we need to make in order to publish for P3D, or if we are unable to gain sufficient clarity from Lockheed Martin to allow us to proceed- we won't.  If we can, then we will.

 

As of today- the outcome is unknown.

 

I recognize that a few developers have rushed headlong into P3D and proclaimed it to be the savior of all things FlightSim and this has caused some folks to wonder why PMDG have not.  The reasons are pretty simple:  For most part those developers don't have our business model, they don't carry our liability concerns, and they don't run an organization with the constraints that we carry.

 

At the end of the day- all that matters to PMDG is that we live up to our contractual obligations to Boeing- and that we position PMDG to succeed in providing our customers with a valuable product to meet their needs.  Whether that customer is an individual at home, a pilot in training, or an airline training department trying to improve training outcomes.  We can only do this through thoughtful consideration of the facts as they pertain to PMDG.  The opinion of some guy in a forum who talked to the second cousin of a scenery developer that is making products for P3D just doesn't carry any weight.

 

I will say this about P3D:  I wish nothing more than for it to be the obvious "go-to" simulation in place of FSX.  It would certainly be easiest for us here at PMDG- but there are business model, licensing, marketplace value and liability considerations afoot- to say nothing of the restrictions placed in print by Lockheed Martin's own legal counsel in their own EULA.

 

PMDG lives in a world that doesn't exist on a wink-wink-nudge-nudge basis, and until and unless we are able to work with Boeing, our legal counsel and Lockheed Martin to provide a clear path into the P3D platform- we will will be unable to go in that direction.

 

Once we find a clear path- we will certainly let you know- but until then I will state again:  PMDG has no intent to develop an entertainment product for use with P3D.

 

(See?  There is that nuance again...)

 

I am going to leave this thread locked because we don't want a "Forum Lawyer" expose on this topic.  The opinions that matter will all take place within the confines of our offices in consultation with actual experts.

 

 


Robert S. Randazzo coolcap.gif

PLEASE NOTE THAT PMDG HAS DEPARTED AVSIM

You can find us at:  http://forum.pmdg.com

Share this post


Link to post

And just to clarify what RSR meant about entertainment products (which is what every product PMDG has ever released is legally classified as) - this is currently displayed on LM's own P3Dv2 product page for every version that exists of their product:

 

consumer.jpg

 

This is not something we've made up because we don't like P3D. It's LM's own statement on their product page and in their EULA. Before you decide to blame us for "spoiling the party" here, ask yourself why this appears on their page and why exactly we should put our company that we've spent literally decades building in legal jeopardy in order to break LM's own stated rule. As RSR said, we would like nothing more than to see this resolved and this sim succeed FSX but we cannot just ignore what they state about their own product's intended audience.


Ryan Maziarz
devteam.jpg

For fastest support, please submit a ticket at http://support.precisionmanuals.com

Share this post


Link to post
Guest
This topic is now closed to further replies.
Sign in to follow this  
  • Tom Allensworth,
    Founder of AVSIM Online


  • Flight Simulation's Premier Resource!

    AVSIM is a free service to the flight simulation community. AVSIM is staffed completely by volunteers and all funds donated to AVSIM go directly back to supporting the community. Your donation here helps to pay our bandwidth costs, emergency funding, and other general costs that crop up from time to time. Thank you for your support!

    Click here for more information and to see all donations year to date.
×
×
  • Create New...