By realistic he means our real galaxy, as in you look out of the window, see Sirius shining in all its colours, then start up Elite 2 fly there, and feel all warm and fuzzy. Or how about landing on one of the moons of Jupiter after observing them through your 99$ telescope and watching the solar system move. Its still worth to start up Frontier to do these things despite the basic graphics.
Its better than jumping from square to square in X3. Sure I love X3 for its economic simulation and capital ship battles, but atmosphere and immersion it has not.
EVE is a totally different game, its a point and click MMO, I played it alot and especially adored the market system.
The financial situation of Frontier Dev is worrisome, but without seeing the income statement and balance sheet, theres no way to tell if they will go bust soon. All the english sites seem to want cash to show those.