Author Topic: VirtualVP Temporarily Unable to be Doenloaded (Read 12946 times)

MichiganWX · « **on:** May 01, 2012, 05:34:20 PM »

I was going to download VirtualVP and saw the following on the website

: Hope everything is ok.

Because of demands on my time related to health issues of a family member, I am temporarily removing StartWatch and VirtualVP from being available for download, and removing the registration pay buttons. If you are already running a trial of either program, send me an email at support@softwx.com at least a week before the trial expires and I will arrange for you to be able to continue using the program(s). If you are a registered user and need the install file to re-install, send me an email at the same address and I will email you the file(s).

DaculaWeather · « **Reply #1 on:** May 01, 2012, 05:50:56 PM »

Wow.... hope everything is ok. Doesn't sound good though.

Hhabilis · « **Reply #2 on:** June 12, 2012, 08:00:16 AM »

That "Temporarily" seems to have stretched to 2 years. Last webpage update was 2010.

Does anyone know of an available US source for VVP?

DaculaWeather · « **Reply #3 on:** June 12, 2012, 08:09:56 AM »

He's the owner and only source for VVP.

Moose Whisperer · « **Reply #4 on:** July 10, 2012, 03:56:55 PM »

This now showing on the website:

Quote

Because of demands on my time related to health issues of a family member, I am temporarily removing StartWatch and VirtualVP from being available for download, and removing the registration pay buttons. If you are already running a trial of either program, send me an email at support@softwx.com at least a week before the trial expires and I will arrange for you to be able to continue using the program(s). If you are a registered user and need the install file to re-install, send me an email at the same address and I will email you the file(s).

I plan on restoring downloads and registration by the end of July 2012.

moehoward4 · « **Reply #5 on:** July 10, 2012, 07:46:34 PM »

It HAS been showing on his website for about 2 weeks.

tinplate · « **Reply #6 on:** July 12, 2012, 03:59:05 AM »

The temporarily unavailable situation began this spring (not 2 years ago!!). My wife's father was in the end stages of Parkinson's disease. With travel and other things related to that, it became increasingly difficult to respond to registrations in a timely manner. So I reluctantly disabled access to the files and registration until I again had the time to respond to emails more frequently than once a week batches. I appreciate the many kind emails I received after making those changes on the website. The files and links to them are back on the SoftWx website now, and I'll have the registration PayPal link back within a few days - well before any newly started trials expire.

Since the time I disabled the downloads, I've been thinking of making some changes to reduce the time I spend doing bookkeeping tasks, and increase the time I have available for doing actual programming on weather related software. I also realized that the current system is far too dependent on me and my availability.

I've decided to make StartWatch completely freeware. I've slightly increased the registration amount for VirtualVP for the first time since I released it over 6 years ago. I'm trying out google ads on SoftWx.com pages related to my freeware programs, although I'm attempting to keep the ad locations not too blatant, and have blocked controversial and overly annoying ads. I hope they're not too obnoxious. I'm looking into moving to a different method of handling trial vs. full version of VirtualVP that will be more automated than the current method that uses emailed registration keys, which should also be more convenient for users. I'm also arranging for a backup third party to be able to continue providing access to VirtualVP should something like this occur again. You would be surprised at how many requests I get for retrieving registration info because of hard disk crashes and the like. I don't want people that have registered to lose the use of VirtualVP because I'm temporarily unavailable. Also, should I become permanently unavailable

, I'll arrange for a permanent transfer of source code either to someone that can continue to maintain VirtualVP, or, barring that, to the community at large.

StartWatch, VirtualVP, and VPLive were all developed using Delphi/Pascal. I do all my development work now using C#/.Net. I would like get sufficiently freed from bookkeeping that I can complete the work I started converting and updating VirtualVP. I'd also like to release more open source C# code for weather software in the future. C# code should be able to be used on Macs and Linux using Mono.

I apologize for any uncertainty and inconvenience this caused.

Steve
SoftWx

jmcmurry · « **Reply #7 on:** July 12, 2012, 06:06:11 AM »

Steve,

Thanks for sharing and we're sure glad to see you "back in the saddle".

- Jim

George Richardson · « **Reply #8 on:** July 12, 2012, 07:04:46 AM »

Steve,

So glad you are back.

The "About" page on my site says "The Software used is anchored by a suite from SoftWx (http://www.softwx.com)." It's great that others will be able to again have those benefits.

I look forward to your continued contribution to the community.

George

gwwilk · « **Reply #9 on:** July 12, 2012, 07:52:20 AM »

You also have my sympathy for your recent challenges, Steve. Our personal weather station software is indeed 'anchored' by your suite. It's great to hear that you're once again able to share your work with us, and I'm looking forward to the changes/enhancements you have planned. Your return is cause for celebration!

PaulMy · « **Reply #10 on:** July 12, 2012, 08:20:37 AM »

Nice to hear from you Steve and to see that you're okay. Family and life's challenges can be a big burden and time consuming, but it comes first in priority. Looking forward to the things you can share with us in the future.

Paul

Cienega32 · « **Reply #11 on:** July 14, 2012, 01:14:35 AM »

Welcome back, Steve - sorry to hear the reasons why you were gone.

Weather Display · « **Reply #12 on:** July 14, 2012, 02:24:49 PM »

good to see you back Steve

Quote

Also, should I become permanently unavailable Sad, I'll arrange for a permanent transfer of source code either to someone that can continue to maintain VirtualVP

I put my hand up as a volunteer

George Richardson · « **Reply #13 on:** July 14, 2012, 06:54:34 PM »

Perhaps some good could come from this situation. Every weather related program I am aware of, with the exception of WeatherLink, is the product of a single author. I fear a situation where an author is suddenly incapacitated and the program dies with him. I would love to see an "Association of Independent Weather Software Producers" which would ascribe to Steve's goal, "I'm also arranging for a backup third party to be able to continue providing access to VirtualVP should something like this occur again. I don't want people that have registered to lose the use of VirtualVP because I'm temporarily unavailable. Also, should I become permanently unavailable, I'll arrange for a permanent transfer of source code either to someone that can continue to maintain VirtualVP, or, barring that, to the community at large."

I think a seal of such an association would add real "Value" to a software program

FWIW

George

Tornado Tim · « **Reply #14 on:** July 19, 2012, 05:19:43 AM »

Quote from: Weather Display on July 14, 2012, 02:24:49 PM

good to see you back Steve
Quote
Also, should I become permanently unavailable Sad, I'll arrange for a permanent transfer of source code either to someone that can continue to maintain VirtualVP

I put my hand up as a volunteer

Put me up for a volunteer too

Piero · « **Reply #15 on:** March 06, 2013, 05:54:26 PM »

It seems to me that the situation has not changed, unfortunately .. I'm sorry for Steve.
And is there someone who continues to maintain virtualVP?

Weather Display · « **Reply #16 on:** March 06, 2013, 06:07:11 PM »

Quote

And is there someone who continues to maintain virtualVP?

you cant do that without the source code
I have volunteered to do that (see above)
but have not heard back

Joel · « **Reply #17 on:** September 01, 2013, 05:38:29 PM »

Quote from: Weather Display on March 06, 2013, 06:07:11 PM

Quote
And is there someone who continues to maintain virtualVP?
you cant do that without the source code
I have volunteered to do that (see above)
but have not heard back

Hi,

I'm trying to use WD and WL at the same time. Lot of problems already described by other members, not necessary to list them again.

As a workaround, would it be feasable that WD receives the data as usual and send them back to WL (via tcp/ip stack for instance) ?
No idea if this is just a piece of cake to do that, or if it is a mission:impossible.

Please note that I watched all the episodes of M:I (7 + 2 seasons and 4 films) and they always succeeded

Weather Display · « **Reply #18 on:** September 01, 2013, 10:23:39 PM »

yes, I think I could do something like that OK

Beaudog · « **Reply #19 on:** September 02, 2013, 09:32:47 AM »

Quote from: Weather Display on September 01, 2013, 10:23:39 PM

yes, I think I could do something like that OK

Ok if it can send the data back to WL any other program that has tcpip capability should/would be able to access the data?

Weather Display · « **Reply #20 on:** September 02, 2013, 09:01:32 PM »

thats the plan...
if I can get it to work, I will work on making it a stand alone program too
just working on it now..

Weather Display · « **Reply #21 on:** September 02, 2013, 11:06:47 PM »

OK,good news, I have it working, resending the data as TCP/IP
i.e to address 127.0.0.1 and port 5511

I will this ability to WD

I could now then create a virtual VP type program (that will work with the new data loggers, as I dont use the vantagepro.dll file)

Weather Display · « **Reply #22 on:** September 03, 2013, 12:37:26 AM »

OK,this option added to WD
to data share via TCP/IP
(to 127.0.0.1 ,port 5511)
in the latest .zip update of WD
see in the Davis setup in the weather station type setup to enable

(tested with a client version of WD getting its data via TCP/IP)

I could expand this to allow to send to another IP address/port combo (e.g up to 5 or so)
to basicly make a replacement for virtualVP

Joel · « **Reply #23 on:** September 03, 2013, 01:17:39 AM »

Many thanks, it is a very good news. I will test is tonight.

Beaudog · « **Reply #24 on:** September 03, 2013, 09:12:34 AM »

This could entice me to buy WD. What I would really like for it to do is work using tcpip across my network so that I could run say WD on one computer and cumulus or WL on another.

News:

Author Topic: VirtualVP Temporarily Unable to be Doenloaded (Read 12946 times)