Hi Everybody.
Perhaps if Auran had a gazillion dollars, they could rebuild the product from scratch and not worry about the income stream drying up at the same time. New products are very expensive to develop as we all should know by now. Supporting old ones can become a financial burden as well as both as the new product is being developed, the old one still needs support. This is why we see support dribble down on products over time, and new ones come out sporadically.
John
Once More Well Said John.
I've been away for a few days at a very large conference here in the UK. The chief executive of a very well-known international company addressed the conference regarding the worldwide economic position overhanging every company regardless of size.
What he stated I think made everyone shudder in the audience. He advised that a second recession was almost certain to hit the world economy with major bankruptcies affecting a large number of companies together with the possibility of whole countries being unable to meet their international debts. The foregoing scenario he felt could trigger a collapse in the international bond market which would put the world in a position that would be worse than even the depression of the 1930s.
I have the greatest respect for everyone's views on this forum, but to those that think that Auran can survive on the money they spent in 2004 or 2006 or even 2009 should wake up and get into the real world. Do they not realize that Auran is only a small company totally reliant on people spending money on computer games and as far as this simulator goes a niche market at that.
Computer gaming is part of the entertainment industry. People only spend money on entertainment when they have good incomes and good spending power. In hard times people cut back on non-essentials and I would be surprised if Auran had not been affected by the world recession that has affected all of us and is still continuing to do so.
I expect that Auran will come forward with an updated Trainz simulator in 2011. One thing we can say for certain is that it will not be perfect (I have never purchased any computer software yet that was perfect), but as 2010 was, it will be an improvement on earlier versions and therefore a further step forward. It may well be produced under very difficult economic circumstances when potential customers may well be looking very hard at their spending ability and whether they can afford non-essentials such as Trainz.
So to all those that are knocking the next version of Trainz before it is even produced I ask one question. How do they see the future. Would it be that they would rather see no future versions of Trainz and the company go under with the result that no previous versions would have any support at all. If that is not what they see then tell us how the future should be seen in their view.
I am sure that there are many like me who only see knocking and crouching from a sector of members on this forum who seem to love to criticize without putting up anything as a constructive alternative whatsoever. So come forward, tell us, let's see the future through the eyes of the knockers. They obviously have great unlocked economic talent, perhaps we can all learn, or if not perhaps as stated they will shut up and join the real world.
I am sure that what the vast majority on these forums want to see is our Trainz hobby survive and go forward even perhaps in the most difficult of Economics circumstances.
Bill
