Topic: Questions with Metrobridge

[Dog2puppy]

Recently, I have been looking into saving up for a metrobridge so I'm not so limited to the AcuRite SmartHub, but I have a few questions.

1. Will the SmartHub continue uploading data to MyAcuRite?

2. Is it worth it, or should I just stick with the SmartHub?

[docbee]

1) yes.

2) depends on your intended use. It should pay out if you want to do feed more networks, feed common website templates, get email alerts, ... www.meteobridge.com lists all the options.

[Bushman]

Or you can run SDR on a Raspberry Pi, intercept the signal and use weewx to post wherever. <MB cost inference removed>

[docbee]

Or you can run SDR on a Raspberry Pi, intercept the signal and use weewx to post wherever.  No annual support fees, just the one-time cost for the hardware/

Interesting approach! I was not aware that there are SDR drivers for weewx available. Details: https://github.com/matthewwall/weewx-sdr
Only thing I am not convinced of is if this is really the way to go when someone just wants to get his weather data posted and is not looking to achieve a computer science degree first But your mileage may vary.

Regarding Meteobridge support fees, there are none. There are 2 years of free updates, when one decides to still get the newest updates after that period, one can buy another 2 years of free updates for 19 Euros.

[Colin]

Well that are not free updates if you have to pay for them.

[Dog2puppy]

Seems like the Meteobridge (And I finally realized my spelling mistake) is worth it, so I'll continue saving up for it.

[Mattk]

Well that are not free updates if you have to pay for them.

What some need to realize with this one is the difference between the terms perpetual licence, support and updates beyond the first 2 years, the version you buy will work basically forever and initially includes the next 2 years of any enhancements for nothing, beyond 2 years then there is an option, this option to upgrade further is purely based on your own specific requirements at the time.

In some cases there is no need to update for the sake of update, I still have some MB's running on FW2.5 (July 2015) and they do exactly what they are supposed to do.     

[Bushman]

Until they don't.  No bug fixes unless you pay (after the first two years).  The RPis are really not that complicated and cost way less than  aWeatherbridge.

[docbee]

Well that are not free updates if you have to pay for them.

Yes, you are right, that is a contradiction  
However, I think it is clear enough explained now, how licensing works and what is in.

[Jáchym]

The problem these days is that people got used to getting stuff for free - eg. Gmail, basic plans of cloud storage like GDrive, DropBox, basic plans of services like Spotify, Win 10 update etc etc.
These large companies like Google, Microsoft and other can afford this, they get the incomes elsewhere and this is more or less to promote themselves. However for a smaller developer, such as Boris (or in fact me as well...), this becomes an issue because I can imagine less and less people opted for MB and tried to look for other free alternatives.

This is also why more and more companies change to subscription-based models, it is something users dont like, but in some cases the only case to keep a product alive.

[docbee]

I can imagine less and less people opted for MB and tried to look for other free alternatives

So far I don't see a drop in new MB users. It is a rather linear growth over the quarters/years. I hope this will continue, as a growing user base is what makes a product successfull and by that long-lasting in the market.

Chart shows activations since mid 2014 and also shows that most tryouts are converted into licenses (tryouts vs agreed licenses) - which is a good sign I removed the y-axis as total numbers are business confidential and not needed in this discussion.

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more and more companies change to subscription-based models

While this is for sure right in general, I want to line out that Meteobridge is not going into a subscription model. Only voulantaries updates might be seen as a subscription model (if you want to tell it that way) after 2 years have passed. This a fundamental difference to subscription models everyone has in mind in times of AppleMusic, Netflix, etc.

Hopefully, we now have these Ts&Cs things clarified from all directions, and can go back to looking if Meteobridge can do a usefull job for the task the initial question was about