Good Afternnon and happy new Year,I used to get weather for FS using the FSMETEO program. I was one of many who didn't want to pay in order to upgrade to the new Version. Until now I was using the old version without having any problems.But since the new year the developer of FSMETEO Marc Philibert desided not only to completly stops the support for the older version but also to prevent it from downloading weather by a pop up message which is saying that this product has expired.And not only this but he ERASES yes you read correctly he ERASES the files from your hard disk , The dat file and all saved weather files. I discovered this after the first time I got the expired message I transfered the dat and saved wx files from my second PC and tryied to run the program. Runing the program a dos prompt window appeared the dat and saved wx files deleted and the expired message appeared.And my question WHO gave HIM the right to enter my PC and erase files, although a firewall is used, I have paid the product and he has NO right to tell me ok you used it for 1 - 2 years now pay it again, especially when the licence says nothing about it.I am very disapointed and angry about this, I understand he is a develper and wants to earn money, all of us want, but this is like robbery. If he erases files from my PC who can assure me that he hasn't stolen any private details? And I am not the only one having this problem, others have seen the same disapearence of files from their PC.What do u think people?Chris MakrisAthens Greece

>>What do u think people?>I think it SUCKS!!!!!!!!!!!:-8 Same story here also:-grr This man and his progs are in my black list from now on:-fume Baper:-mad

Well,After some exchange of emails between Mr. Philibert (the developer of the program) and me, since I had the same problem, he promissed that he will create a patch for v5.1. I hope this will be the case for all the other co-users who have the same problem and not only for the ones that they contacted him.After all we have paid and I think he understands it now. Only time will tell..George Papanikolopoulos

Hi,i was a FsMeteo customer also and now i have the same problems.He erased all my data files from my PC/FsMeteo directory.!!!!!@#$$%^&*&^%$#1) Mr Marc Philibert YOU DON'T HAVE THE RIGHT to access my files, stored in my PC!!! Who are you???? 2) I'm a FsMeteo legal owner and have paid for this and i like to use it with my Fs2002. Who told you that you can stop me to use it, as i have paid for it? I don't want support and futured updates, i want to use it as is!!!!!3)At the end, some months ago, when mr Marc Philibert took the dicision to ask money for the upgrade he never sent an email to his customers to inform them about it. I asked him and never answered!!:-hang Too bad customer service!!!!>What do u think people?BLACK LIST Also!!!!! :-madEddie

oops,this sounds strange.I

In erasing without notice the saved situation data, he is essentially using a subscription service. Unless you were notified at the time of registration/purchase that this would occur, and the issued license stated that he retained the rights to delete that data once it was downloaded, then I suspect there was an illegal action here and as such destroyed the fruits of your labor (downloading with all relavent costs).Let's say you bought a copyrighted book that destroyed itself after so many days but were not notified of such impending action. I'd say it violates the fair use act.It is not unheard of in the commercial software industry to have license expiration after such time the application ceases to function. Most software states that a license is or is not issued in perpetuity.This is one reason I will not use the WinXP type of activation. If after a manufacturer declared product end-of-life they refuse to reissue keys for purchased products when needed due to a required maintenance reinstall, thereby possibly making applications requiring that version useless and invalidating your data, I would for myself be foolhardy to accept such a precarious situtation. Support withdrawal is understandable, but I do not agree with the rented software scenario.Your FSMeteo data was downloaded from their proprietary servers. The question remains as to what terms you agreed to when you accepted the product especially the life of the data.I originally used FSMETAR which uses government sources. I then used ActiveSky WXre which also used public sources, then switched to AS2004 which uses proprietary software.I see by postings that there is an updated version just released of the (if still freeware) FSMETAR still I would imagine using public sources. It is stated to now use winds-aloft data. Someone might investigate this product and see how it integrates with the FS9 weather dynamics. This might offer an alternative to a proprietary solution.And, no, I am not a lawyer nor trained any way in any form of software legalese. But I do read (or try to) most of the software license content of all apps I obtain.

i've had alot of problems with FSMeteo going way back. i've made the switch to ActiveSky and consider it money very well spent. i can't say that about FSMeteo....my .02chris

Even though I am very satisfied with 6.4 performance I am very dissapointed to hear all this regarding users of the old version.I sincerely hope Marc P. will do what he told to George P. and he will issue an update for the old version to remedy the situation.Kyprianos Biris :-cool

I don't ever recall seeing anything about the product 'timing out' or 'expiring' when I purchased it. I had no beef when he decided not to continue updating once he released v6. But to disable it entirely to force people to buy an upgrade is bull$hit as far as I'm concerned.

Happy New Year everybodyFirst of all I want to apologize for my basic English, since them is not my native language. Don

I am very sorry for all of you that have had data forcibly removed from your computers without your consent. Rather than just moan about it in a forum, why don't you all get together and take a class action lawsuit against the developer? This will have two effects:1: Costs will be distributed equally across all sufferers - funding should be minimal and when you win, the Developer will obviously be asked for costs.2: It would send a wider message to the developer community that underhand tactics, handy (from the developers point of view) `errors of judgment`, unpublished but pre-planned withdrawal of support and invasion of privacy are not the kind of thing we want in our community.Ironic that this should follow on from Ernie Alstons blindly optimisitic support for developers `rights` to illegal contracts in this forum over the last few days! Perhaps this, more than anything, shows that even some `trusted` developers cannot actually be trusted. Only the Law stands between them and us. And if you don't use the law to protect us from them you have absolutely no right to complain when things go pear-shaped.As a first step, each of you should complain in writing to your country equivalent of Trading Standards Officers, mentioning and referencing the thread here and anywhere else. Then each of you should come back and quote the references and contacts being used, and this thread can be used to put them all into contact with each other, with a view to having consumer watchdogs join forces to combat this kind of thing. Then you might not even need a lawyer! This is what this Avsim forum should be all about. Affirmative action, not interminable talking shop.Allcott

I highly suggest that if this product was delivered as a .zip or CD, that an attempt be made not to reinstall but just open up any read-me's or license doc files only to see exactly what the terms of purchase were and what license agreement was signed to activate/install the software.You can not take legal action on something that was agreed to.

Just buy Active Sky :)Yo!The WeatherMen

I'm sorry for you guys with the probs with 5.1 etc. However I have always been delighted with FSMeteo. It's works great for me. Just a nice little program. Also always had great support from the developer ....

>I highly suggest that if this product was delivered as a .zip>or CD, that an attempt be made not to reinstall but just open>up any read-me's or license doc files only to see exactly what>the terms of purchase were and what license agreement was>signed to activate/install the software.>>You can not take legal action on something that was agreed>to.>Good advice. But I wonder whether the rights of the developer extend to automatically removing hard data form a computer that comes from a non-proprietary source? As I understand Meteo, it's a data reader, and it extracts information in a format that FS can use from basic Metar data available on the net. If that is the case then regardless of licences, there are no grounds for such removal of data, whatever a licence might say. I also doubt the provider of the raw data that Meteo processes would take too kindly to a package using its service for profit that goes around deleting data from a users hardrive! Anyone contacted them yet?Allcott