Yes I suppose I have some catching up to do on old forum posts. But I have no law degree nor product, so not soliciting for clients nor advertising sales.
Surely Herr Fridger jokes with me that Voltaire's mindset was of Western origin and unfamiliar to the Old World of Europe and Celestia's developers. I took the inference that such qt fm a Westerner is symbolic of Western mentality where perfect is the enemy of the profit margin, (methinks he alludes to Micro$oft) That's not what I meant. But the remark about German autos.. Come now, is not Chris Laurel a Seattle, WA native?
I'm not a National Sozialistische member, but I humbly affirm that I own a German sedan and am 50% German stock. But if there was ever an auto which provided an argument to "do it right the first time" it is the VW Passat. The Passat Limousine, as it was called in Old Europe when I purchased it, was rushed out to the public before the wiring issues were ever resolved. So yes I agree, if something's worth doing it's worth doing right.
Actually, when I thought of the Voltaire quote I was thinking of Admiral Gorshkov's 1960's useage. The perfect being the enemy of the good. Similarly, the Soviet's N1 booster had 30 rocket engines on the first stage, hugely imperfect. But they didn't have time to seek perfection, a race was on. The Saturn V booster wasn't perfect either, but it was better than good in my book.
I think Celestia is an amazing piece software. I would like to know more about its history & development. I'll keep looking for its history; it would be neat to read brief bios of all you fellows working on it; I imagine you have a very diverse background.
I don't call Celestia a game, nor Starry Nights, RedShift, Dance of the Planets, nor DeepSky a game. Too much respect to do so. But neither is an Apollo sim a game. Guess it depends on how you personally define "game." I'm not the creator nor developer of EL3D, but to call it a game with "tricks" is silly. Take the high road. I view both types of software as being focused on realism & accuracy, as much is attainable with PCs, anyway.
There's been 8+ years of research and Beta testing & technical discussions about the smallest minutia of the Apollo 11 landing on the EL3D forums. If the subject (Apollo or Apollo 11) is of any interest to anyone here, don't discount the many years of content of the forum posters there, some of whom worked on the Apollo program and could walk circles around me, especially Frank O'Brien, who knows everything Apollo. When I asked Ron Monsen if he needed anything back in 2000, he suggested good Apollo landing site data. Who better to put him in touch with than Dr. Paul Spudis of the Lunar & Planetary Institute (where I attended my monthly astronomy meetings).
http://www.lpi.usra.edu/lpi/abspudis.html
Many regard Paul as the world's leading living expert on lunar geology. Since he was also Deputy Director of the Clementine Team, he provided Ron with detail mesh & data of the Apollo landing sites. Forums can provide such introductions.
To suggest any mention of other software or websites (especially in rgds Apollo) is not welcome nor appreciated seems to be shooting oneself in the foot. Am I the only person here who ever dreamt of landing on the Moon? I get enjoyment from simply looking at Hennie Frik's model of the Eagle as it descends over the lunar regolith. A magnificent virtual model, as I'm sure yours will be. Peace out.
