Wunderground

in the past weather-display.com used to get a lot web traffic from wunderground.com
but not now after they re did their personal weather station web site
see if you can find the link to about what software is now available

https://www.wunderground.com/weatherstation/overview.asp

(it is very hidden)

I do pay a monthly API fee to wunderground and was the first person to send them data way back in November 2000

so now WD sales have just about dried up, which spells the end

That would be very sad brian(wd). what can we do to help ? even as a non user I feel in debt to yourself for the simple fact it gave me the opportunity to do something over the last years… brian (34)

wunderground now push meteobridge/hub
and weather stations now come out with wifi straight to wunderground, so no need to run software
and people are less and less inclined to have a pc or laptop running 24/7

i.e my market is drying up
the end is coming, its just a matter of time

Hmmm it’s not the end and I totally see how things have changed in terms of data being sent direct via the hardware itself …however perhaps you need too move on and use your knowledge of software and channel into a different approach .

If I was 10 years younger right now I would drumming up ideas to tap into the app market I really would and a while ago I was toying with an idea but my apple developer account expired so I just never followed it through.

So an app version of weather display be it windows,OS X etc in a slimmed down functionality using BLE or local host ip 192.168.1.xxx or something along those lines…fresh new GUI to suit modern interface trends there are some apps already out there that tap into the IP address of a console and display weather station data and whilst It would be extremely challenging to match the hardware options currently available in weather display software it would be an alternative way of generating an income if your enthusiasm is still there but all this is easier said than done time and commitment learning new code just food for thought I’m sure others could throw ideas :bulb: about … though $60 would be be considered way bit on the pricey side for an app unless it was something very unique…

it’s difficult brian all boils down to enthusiasm and willingness to build something new from the ground up . Whatever you decide I can say it would be a great shame and loss if you were to retire from it , I also understand the costs where sometimes it becomes unjustifiable … many years ago I ran a ham radio store in the U.K. Then out of the blue the landlord of the property raised the annual lease payments by 25% it was totally unsustainable I would have spent the first 3-5 months of the year trading at a loss …so the inevitable happened closed down sadly …

So think about it you have the background knowledge and app stores are incredibly popular …brian(34)

I already have produced some weather related apps that are available on the windows 10 app store (for a few dollars each) but with 1 sale a day at a few dollars that is not worth the effort either
the problem comes down to what can I better do with my time spent (i.e earning an income to support the family with a different job)

This is a very hard situation, I totally understand the issue. People use normal desktop PCs less and less.

Let

I also believe that given how many years you have been doing this and providing invaluable support here, many people would be willing to give you something extra after all those years.

Brian, I have to agree with Jachym, that future support for Weather Display, including your responses to messages as well as software updates, should be provided only to (financially) supporting members - a member who pays a yearly subscription gets answers to software problems as well as updates to the latest versions of Weather display - 20 to 30 dollars a year, automatically renewed every years, seems reasonable.

The possibility of developing a private area (for members only) within the Weather-Watch Forum might be a possibility.

Another option would be for you to develop your own private forum (or something similar) where only paid members would have access.

As far as I am concerned, I will keep using Weather Display on a personal computer - I cannot stand doing any useful work on a tablet or on one of those (how are they called) ‘intelligent’ (or is it ‘smart’) phones… :roll:

The current model is in a way a trap and is inevitebly going to lead to a point where it is no longer possible to maintain - less and less new users/day (i.e. lower and lower incomes) and in the meantime more and more overall users, i.e. more and more of your time.

Brian i have an idea but I really need to think about it more to make sure its an acceptable idea to you I certainly wouldn’t want to impose on your knowledge without you getting the benefit. i will PM you sometime in the near future as we have a 10 day national holiday starting next week so little time to really think about it at the moment…ps its of no benefit to me in anyway just like to offer some ideas that may be useful or not…

have a nice weekend…brian

Brian

Having been a user of WD since 2001 and receiving excellent support over all those years I’d be more than willing to support a subscription based service. I sure would hate to see WD go away.

Cheers

:smiley:

MikeyM

This sucks. Brian-you have been very supportive to all of us. If a subscription service is needed-I will pay out of my own pocket to keep this going.

I do have a mobile app, to show live data (either via the clientraw.txt, or via direct connection to your local internet connection , or via a cloud based service (i.e no FTP needed)
but it is free

I am also starting on a 8 year ecological project where I am going to be growing and planting 25,000 native plants over a 5ha steep gully (to create a gully)
which will take up a chunk of my spare time
(I have my first 1000 seedlings growing) :slight_smile:

I don’ think a subscription service is needed, just if the odd user made a donation for the cause/support/updates every now and then that would be great :slight_smile:

I see some one has decided to post on wxforum the end of weather display thread
that puts a nail in the coffin faster than I had hoped

maybe I should make it donationware?

I think a yearly subscription would work. I don’t know how many paid owners of the software you have, but I’d gladly pay an annual subscription.

if I could just get a few more donations every now and then, then it will be all be worth it and I things will stay status quo

OK I totally understand you Brian, Im not a fan of subscription based model either, the problem is that for small developers this is usually the only way to go because otherwise there is no guaranteed income and unless it is just a hobby you cannot compete with the large companies like WU, NetAtmo etc. which make money elsewhere and provide services “for free”.

I would probably do this:

  1. no change in terms of price for WD - i.e. this would stay the same
  2. do mention in the SW and here on the forum somewhere, that support is donationware

See how this works, obviously not everyone will opt for it, but some people hopefully would and it could make up for the decreasing regular sales.

If this does not work then trying the subscription model could be tried as well before calling it a day.

weatherview32 software had a update subscription model
I don’t think that has really worked either

I am not a fan of that

just a few donations every now and then will be the ticket (and some users do actually do that annually anyway! :slight_smile:

That’s what I think too Brian. If you keep the current model (not make it completely donationware), you will still have some money from the regular new users and then have the donations to offset the decreased number of new users as such. It is worth a try.

Maybe you could even add some little dialog box into WD which would pop-up eg. every 6/12 months saying something along the lines “Would you like to support the development…”

Donations suggest buying favours. . . we have our politicians to thank for that cynical view.

Subscriptions should mean that we’re all equal, but I can also see that some people need/expect more support than others.

Difficult one.