Weather Center 2.0

[Guest anthonye]

Keith I would not bother with this nonesense and Mikea, but it goes to show him that you do reply as I said. Regarding my one post he mentioned, I only registered here today after looking through here for months and months and this needed to be answered, so this makes two !.Keep up the good workAnthony......Over and Out

[Guest racartron]

Hey Mike a, So how come if it's so bad, you're willing to negotiate a purchase price? Seems to me..............ah never mind. I promised to not pursue this any further. See ya.BTW, I do agree the 15 minutes is too short a time to checkout the full functionality. Hey Keith, how about negotiating a 60 minute window? If I'm going to seriously consider parting with enough cash to buy a LAGO F-16 or an Eagle Soft Beech 400, it really has to be pretty daggone good and the best way to verify that is to wring it out for a good hour or so.Another option would be to give it a 10 to 15 day full trial and then kill it all together. Cause if they ain't sold by then they never will be. Racartronit means something, but I just can't remember what

[Guest racartron]

Here we go again -- ROTFLMAORacartronit means something, but I just can't remember what

[Guest bigun]

Yea Mike a,,, it's obvious by your posts that you are "loaded" with gray matterGeorge

[Guest]

And what brought you here? Freeware. Is is just a scam to sell you stuff?I am wrong and a jerk to defend those who share, because this is a hobby?Not.Sheesh. I see lots of brown noses in this thread.

[Guest]

Oh, it's not *bad* it's just overpriced, IMO.Thank you for agreeing the 15-minutes is a wee short. These are the sorts of things inspire software pirates--which I am not.I think a timed full-trial would endear many more customers to this Keith fellow. And if it's as good as he says it is, let us see it instead of racing our fastest planes against his silly stingy clock.

[Guest bigun]

and to the original poster who asked about Weather Center 2.0,, yes it is a good program. I've used/using them all and they all have different weaknesses and strengths. Weather Center, in my opinion, represents the current weather in an area as well as all of them and is extremely easy to use. Being a modulem, you do not have to run a seperate program. I don't think you would regret purchasing the program.George

[Guest]

Hello Mike,I'm disappointed that you do not like the product. I'm not sure you would be happy with the product even if were priced at 14.95, but that is ok because no product can please everybody and we all have our own set of requirements that allows us to pick what software best suits our needs.You made some untrue statements and your apologies are certainly accepted by me, but it seems like you are "out to get" this product. The question I have for you is, what did you actually like about the product that makes it worth 14.95 to you? Are you arguing that a product that has no support, a fake FAQ, the propensity to destroy your FS2002 installation, an underhanded and greedy author, and no likelihood of being upgraded for FS2004 is worth 15 of your hard earned dollars? Your statements aren't logical.FAQs are Frequently Asked Questions. Because Weather Center 2 has only just been released a day ago, I had to predict what those questions might be, if I were a customer. They are certainly made up, because the product has not been released long enough to have any frequently asked questions. As I recognize the need to add an item to this page, I certainly will, afterall, FAQs are living documents.Regarding compatibility with FS2004. It's no secret that just about every weather add-on, navigation tool, and many commercial aircraft add-ons depend on FSUIPC (many kudo's to Pete Dowson for this outstanding module). My position is no different than their position. I dont know why you think I am being underhanded when I make a clear statement of intention. If compatibility is possible, it will be done. Can FSNavigator or any weather addon say any different? I've talked to people about the FSUIPC compatibility project. It sounds like Pete is going to go at it full-bore. But when I say Microsoft is keeping its cards close to its vest, that's a true statement from people I've talked to who are connected to the FSUIPC project.15-minutes has been sufficient time for many people to evaluate the product. It resets the timer everytime you restart flight simulator and the timer only starts after you click the ON switch, not when the simulator starts up. If you feel like you dont have enough time to fly into a radar return, then save your situation where you are at, restart flight simulator, and then reload your situation file and turn on Weather Center and fly through the area you were interested in.What were you not impressed about in the radar display when you flew in the "thick of things"? Was Weather Center 2 not generating rain when you flew into an area on the radar that indicated such? Did it not do what it was supposed to? Be specific, because I fly with Weather Center 2, myself, and I want the product to work as much as any customer. So, if you have a specific technical issue with it, please provide some details and we'll make sure it gets put into the TODO queue.Its fairly standard to find the Customer Support contact on a website and in the "Customer Support" section of the product documentation. I'm not sure what can be done to make it more accessible...please make a suggestion and I will make a note of it.I think the email links are just fine. This seems like a serious case of nit-picking, Mike. They say what they are. If I bring somebody into the company for customer support, then I dont have to change the page content, I can simply change the "mailto" address.2141 downloads? Wow that's great! I dont get ANY revenues the Novice version. I also dont twist arms to get people to buy the Expert version. The product speaks for itself, which is why the Novice version is a great demo.As for the cost structure, I pay a commission to my vendor and then some of the money has been ear-marked for donation to Pete Dowson for his outstanding work (and in hope that he will continue to FS2004). Greedy? I dont think I am. I am a professional software engineer, I expect to be paid for software development, because its my occupation. I pay for software I find useful just like anybody else. Engineers and their families have to eat, too.Lets also not forget that the free Novice version STILL WORKS as a weather generator even after the demo expires. The algorithm is more like WC1's algorithm (which is like the algorithm of the average weather generator available out there). It still collects data from the Internet and still turns that data into Flight Simulator weather. It doesnt let you have the radar screen--which you say is CPU hungry anways, and its free--seems like a perfect match for what you want, Mike.Thank you for your comments, Mike.Keith

[Guest]

Perhaps we should all write to Microsoft and demand that they give it away rather than sell it. After all, it's just a hobby....

[Guest]

Totally and completely disarming.No, Not out to get you.Yes, with your support of Pete and your composure in this forum you have convinced me, and perhaps other readers of your mettle, intent, and honor.For me, $25 is a lot of money and I'm sure I'm not alone. I am on a fixed income and were it not for the freeware here on Avsim, I couldn't fly any nice planes/weather/scenery.What didn't I like about your program? Well, things were, as I said, a tad non-standard (relying purely on the Windows uninstall instead of offering an uninstall link as has become the standard), and blah blah. I just couldn't couldn't catch the rain. Although I researched current NOAA radar and thought I'd chosen an airport smack in the nasties, your radar painted the picture some distance from me and I couldn't get there before my novice time expired. One of the two was not current.Also, I once (past tense) used a little program called "AutoSave" to keep my position but lately prefer helicopters and often those saves will place you in a compromised position.I'll end it here. There's some egg on my face, but some good has come from it, I think, for both of us.You support Peter, I'll support you, and fly your "Novice" edition a while longer and until my Social Security allows the purchase.There's a negative connotation to "Novice." Bad choice, IMO.As Linda Ellerby might say, "And so it goes . . ."

[Guest]

>Perhaps we should all write to Microsoft and demand that they>give it away rather than sell it. After all, it's just a>hobby....>Brilliant. Posts like yours make me wonder why I waste my times in forums. Twit.

[Guest bigun]

I wonder why you waste our,,err your time on these forums too Mike aGeorge

[Guest]

>Brilliant. Posts like yours make me wonder why I waste my>times in forums. Twit.Almost as sparklingly intelligent as most of what I've seen you post in this thread, only less insulting.

[maxter 0]

Well, please feel free to not waste your time on these forums anymore Mikea. I'm sure given your contributions on this thread, we would not be missing too much.CheersChris Porter:-outtaPerthWestern Australia

[Guest vrandar]

I have now parted with my hard-earned cash and the program is sitting happily on my system about to be tried out in earnest. I also have activesky wxRE and FSMeteo and would have been happy to remain using at least one of them, but I thought I'd give WC2 a go because of the weather radar and the clear way in which winds aloft data amongst other things is presented. Maybe it will remain on my computer, maybe it won't but at first viewing it seems promising and it appears to be the weather program I have been seeking for a while. So I for one am happy to give it a go. If there are two minor initial niggles it is that QNH is shown in the US format, e g 29.98, rather than the European format of 1013 with no option that I can see to switch between the two, and that the main screen un-minimised is a bit large. But at least that helps seeing the data! But these are only niggles and not actual problems.Having run WC2 against activesky wxRE at the same time (though not in flight) there do sometimes appear to be very slight differences in the reported wind speed or direction and the temperatures and dew points. I assume the servers the data is coming from are different or the data is collected at slightly different times. But the differences, when they happen, are small and I doubt this will be a problem.Like all of us MikeA is entitled to his opinions and these should be respected unless and until they start to stray into the realm of personal abuse. Perhaps he could have given his views in less strident terms? After all he has not actually parted with any money. He will no doubt accuse me of "brown nosing" (what an inelegant term) but I have never met or corresponded with the developers and indeed had never heard of Weather Center until I saw the ad for WC2 yesterday.Right, lets try this thing out (just got FSBuild2 as well so it's a busy weekend).