VWS

[Garth Bock]

We have been on V14 for a while and hey I am not complaining.....

(after being on another software program that didnt change for 3 years and then the upgrade price was half the full price and the new version had almost no changes)

.....any word on V15 ? Any rumors of some nifty neato bells and whistles that we can get excited about ? What would everyone like to have in V15 ? Just curious what would the next step be.....

[Downlinerz2]

    Grrrrrrrrrrrrreat question!!!!
    Mark

[moehoward4]

Good Luck....support at Ambient is VERY slow.....and he hasn't made any changes since March '11.     Jack

[Garth Bock]

Jack, not slow compared to waiting for 3 years and getting only a minor change.

Thanks Mark.

So how about a little brain storming......what would you like in V15 ?

[Downlinerz2]

    Mostly I would like to see lots of different kinds of ways to arrange the display panel.
I like the high-low, and the meters, and gauges but I would like to see either more ways of using them or more options to choose from.  I like the broadcast panel that they have and I use that.  But I also fill the rest of the area provided with lots of different gauges, tanks, high-lows and averages and rates.  Maybe new ways of clustering the parameters on each measurment.  Say something where you could start with a panel for wind and then be able to put into it different ways of displaying speed, direction, strip chart, average, windrun if you want and to have several choices on how to do each. I know you can do this to some extent already so it is just to have more choices and the option of placing things in a panel as a group.  I am not explaining this well at all.  Sorry if I have you totally confused.    
    Mark
ADDED:  I would also like to be able to have a scrolling feature that can show forecast, data, info, and other cool stuff!

[neondesert]

We have been on V14 for a while and hey I am not complaining.....

(after being on another software program that didnt change for 3 years and then the upgrade price was half the full price and the new version had almost no changes)

.....any word on V15 ? Any rumors of some nifty neato bells and whistles that we can get excited about ? What would everyone like to have in V15 ? Just curious what would the next step be.....

I wouldn't count on any updates to VWS anytime soon.  It seems the program has been in "maintenance mode" for years now.
It's sister program WeatherFlash is in the same rut as well.    JMHO

You might want to take a look at Cumulus http://sandaysoft.com/ .
Nice interface, lots of features, easy to use, and most importantly it is still growing! 

[Downlinerz2]

We have been on V14 for a while and hey I am not complaining.....
(after being on another software program that didnt change for 3 years and then the upgrade price was half the full price and the new version had almost no changes)
.....any word on V15 ? Any rumors of some nifty neato bells and whistles that we can get excited about ? What would everyone like to have in V15 ? Just curious what would the next step be.....

    I have to still get my monies worth out of my VWS first.  I do have Cumulus but went with VWS so after some time I might change.

I wouldn't count on any updates to VWS anytime soon.  It seems the program has been in "maintenance mode" for years now.
It's sister program WeatherFlash is in the same rut as well.    JMHO

You might want to take a look at Cumulus http://sandaysoft.com/ .
Nice interface, lots of features, easy to use, and most importantly it is still growing! 

[gadget_guy]

Although I currently use VWS, after taking a look at Cumulus, I may have to give it a try.  I liked what I saw on the web site.

[Garth Bock]

We have been on V14 for a while and hey I am not complaining.....

(after being on another software program that didnt change for 3 years and then the upgrade price was half the full price and the new version had almost no changes)

.....any word on V15 ? Any rumors of some nifty neato bells and whistles that we can get excited about ? What would everyone like to have in V15 ? Just curious what would the next step be.....

I wouldn't count on any updates to VWS anytime soon.  It seems the program has been in "maintenance mode" for years now.
It's sister program WeatherFlash is in the same rut as well.    JMHO

You might want to take a look at Cumulus http://sandaysoft.com/ .
Nice interface, lots of features, easy to use, and most importantly it is still growing! 

You say not to count on any updates...you know this for a fact? Maybe there is a secret programming session going on and sometime soon there will be "white smoke" coming out of the chimney.

Yes I think Cumulus is very nice too and I run it as well but I was just wanted to see what kind of wish list everyone had for VWS.

[neondesert]

You say not to count on any updates...you know this for a fact? Maybe there is a secret programming session going on and sometime soon there will be "white smoke" coming out of the chimney.

  No, I don't have any inside info. I'm just going by the prior history of major changes or rather lack thereof. 
Don't hold your breath waiting for that white smoke though!  I have a feeling that chimney will be spewing out "black smoke" for a while. 

Yes I think Cumulus is very nice too and I run it as well but I was just wanted to see what kind of wish list everyone had for VWS.

My wish for VWS is that they would bring it into the 21st century!

[Garth Bock]

You say not to count on any updates...you know this for a fact? Maybe there is a secret programming session going on and sometime soon there will be "white smoke" coming out of the chimney.

  No, I don't have any inside info. I'm just going by the prior history of major changes or rather lack thereof. 
Don't hold your breath waiting for that white smoke though!  I have a feeling that chimney will be spewing out "black smoke" for a while. 

Yes I think Cumulus is very nice too and I run it as well but I was just wanted to see what kind of wish list everyone had for VWS.

My wish for VWS is that they would bring it into the 21st century!

Define bring it into the 21st century.......

[neondesert]

My wish for VWS is that they would bring it into the 21st century!

Define bring it into the 21st century.......

Oh I don't know, provide a new look and feel perhaps.  Don't get me wrong, it functions fine but I prefer the display on a program like Cumulus. 
Smooth movement on the wind speed/direction gauges, for example.  Again, this is just my opinion. 

[dkinsc]

......what would you like in V15 ?

I would like to see some bugs fixed in web page generation.  Funny things happen sometimes, especially in using embedded variables, and the workarounds are a chore.

[Whuffo]

I'd hope that Ed would go through and clean up what he has already; the menus are a mess - settings for things are sprayed all over the place. It looks like someone wrote a program, then several someone elses added features and they didn't communicate.

And the rain calculations - this shouldn't be that hard but you can see people complaining about it over and over and over again. Saying that we can manually fix the rain values begs the question: what's the program good for? Even if the varying station types make this too hard, checking the values for sanity is a must. Nonsense like 30 inches today and 1 inch in the last 24 hours has to stop. This is basic stuff; sure the "cloud base" calculations are nice but if you can't get the rain right it's a joke. I'm tired of going in and fixing the rain values after VWS screws them up.

Configuration changes should take effect immediately - or notify you that a reboot is necessary. Too many times I've wasted time troubleshooting a new configuration issue that disappeared after a reboot (or two).

The "start HeavyWeather" option should wait until HeavyWeather is up and running before complaining; this is a constant problem here. The system reboots and somehow VWS can't find it's sensors - even though it's really reading from HeavyWeather which is up and running. Even if it wasn't, VWS is really only looking for a file that HeavyWeather creates and it's RIGHT THERE. And that error about the sensors not being available; the options should actually work. Retry doesn't work, it just coughs up the same error. None of this should be a problem; the system should come up gracefully from a cold boot. It certainly can't do that now.

I guess what I'm saying is that if what we already have actually worked 100% (or even 98%) then I'd be thrilled. I'm not talking about little stuff; these bugs are serious and haven't been dealt with. I bought a "professional level" weather package - but.

Instead, I've got people asking about why the rain rate is 0.00 when it's raining heavily outside. I'm watching for power bumps so I can log into the weather computer and coax VWS back into operation. Even shareware usually isn't this bad - but I purchased this software.

And how about the "support"? There's numerous messages here from people who entered a support request at Ambient's site and never received a reply. Has anyone here actually received a reply, or do they just route the support requests to the bit bucket?

For me, there's some additional features I'd like, but I'd really prefer that the current version be fixed. Once they've accomplished that, then we can talk about new features.

[moehoward4]

The way I see it is that Ed is the ONLY person at Ambient doing support...for everything that they sell. Last summer, I emailed him a question, and it took him 3 weeks to get back to me.....Kinda shows that there is no one else 'in the house'.     Jack

[dkinsc]

The way I see it is that Ed is the ONLY person at Ambient doing support...for everything that they sell. Last summer, I emailed him a question, and it took him 3 weeks to get back to me.....Kinda shows that there is no one else 'in the house'.     Jack

I sympathize with Ed on an individual level, but have no sympathy for VWS (it is a program!) or Ambient.  Selling a product entails obligations, just like having employees does.  And among those obligations are technical support.  I have gotten one response, and from there on nothing.  I still use VWS because I have a lot of time invested in making it work.  But when I decide to revise my site, I will invest the time up front in some other product.  The only thing that impresses me about a one-man technical support operation is the arrogance in believing that is sufficient.

[stevebrtx]

I'm in a bit of a trap, for good reasons I read the temp at ground level and the humidity on the roof, there can be as much as 30% difference. VWS arbitrarily calculates dew point using sensor #1 so my readings are off a bunch and the Broadcast panel also arbitrarily reports sensor #1 (ground), so the other day out of desperation I spent hours rebuiding the broadcast panel so I could at least report the humidity correctly. I guess the point is that it would be nice to be able to select which sensors report, more like the gauges. I'm still trying to find a java script to calculate dew point, but then I'll have to drop the dew point gauge. Like others I have 5 years and a lot of work invested in the current "look & feel" and I get as many as 5,000 hits a day so any time I change anything, people notice and it has to be a positive change.

Just looked at Sandaysoft and it doesn't support my OS equipment, so that was a short eval project?

[gadget_guy]

I'm bummed out.  I just looked at the hardware supported by Cumulus.  My WMR 100 and 200 equipment is not supported, Sigh.  I'm guessing that sometime between now and retirement I need to save my coins and move up to Davis.  I can get by for now but long term I need more reliability.  And in retirement I'll only have one station to worry about.

[racenet]

And how about the "support"? There's numerous messages here from people who entered a support request at Ambient's site and never received a reply. Has anyone here actually received a reply, or do they just route the support requests to the bit bucket?

Humm, I guess you don't know what a telephone is. Every time I use that new fangled device to contact Ed, I get a reply each and every time, without fail. Maybe you should try it sometime.

 

[Whuffo]

And how about the "support"? There's numerous messages here from people who entered a support request at Ambient's site and never received a reply. Has anyone here actually received a reply, or do they just route the support requests to the bit bucket?

Humm, I guess you don't know what a telephone is. Every time I use that new fangled device to contact Ed, I get a reply each and every time, without fail. Maybe you should try it sometime.

 

I guess you don't know that there are other countries besides the US - and that international phone calls from half-way around the world aren't something you undertake casually. If Ed wants to talk to me on the phone, he could reply to one of my support requests; I'd be happy to give him my phone number.

But rather than useful help, us on the other side of the globe get to hear arrogant suggestions like yours. If you've got some special connection with Ed, then tell him that he really needs to deal with the support requests. If you don't have a connection with Ambient or Ed, then step away from the keyboard and avoid looking like a fool.

[racenet]

And how about the "support"? There's numerous messages here from people who entered a support request at Ambient's site and never received a reply. Has anyone here actually received a reply, or do they just route the support requests to the bit bucket?

Humm, I guess you don't know what a telephone is. Every time I use that new fangled device to contact Ed, I get a reply each and every time, without fail. Maybe you should try it sometime.

 

I guess you don't know that there are other countries besides the US - and that international phone calls from half-way around the world aren't something you undertake casually. If Ed wants to talk to me on the phone, he could reply to one of my support requests; I'd be happy to give him my phone number.

But rather than useful help, us on the other side of the globe get to hear arrogant suggestions like yours. If you've got some special connection with Ed, then tell him that he really needs to deal with the support requests. If you don't have a connection with Ambient or Ed, then step away from the keyboard and avoid looking like a fool.

That was useful help. Pick up the phone and call him. You will get him. Until you have exhausted all options, don't bitch about it. I am a customer of Ambient, just like you. I have no special "In" with them. That being said, I do not come here, bitching about this or that, when I have not bothered to try all options. I couldn't care less where you live. If you have a phone, use the damn thing. Christ, my phone plan gives me unlimited international calling. You can find the fool in the mirror........

[DaculaWeather]

Ed just replied to one of my emails the other day.

[Whuffo]

Ed just replied to one of my emails the other day.

Great! There's hope for the rest of us, then.

[Whuffo]

And how about the "support"? There's numerous messages here from people who entered a support request at Ambient's site and never received a reply. Has anyone here actually received a reply, or do they just route the support requests to the bit bucket?

Humm, I guess you don't know what a telephone is. Every time I use that new fangled device to contact Ed, I get a reply each and every time, without fail. Maybe you should try it sometime.

 

I guess you don't know that there are other countries besides the US - and that international phone calls from half-way around the world aren't something you undertake casually. If Ed wants to talk to me on the phone, he could reply to one of my support requests; I'd be happy to give him my phone number.

But rather than useful help, us on the other side of the globe get to hear arrogant suggestions like yours. If you've got some special connection with Ed, then tell him that he really needs to deal with the support requests. If you don't have a connection with Ambient or Ed, then step away from the keyboard and avoid looking like a fool.

That was useful help. Pick up the phone and call him. You will get him. Until you have exhausted all options, don't bitch about it. I am a customer of Ambient, just like you. I have no special "In" with them. That being said, I do not come here, bitching about this or that, when I have not bothered to try all options. I couldn't care less where you live. If you have a phone, use the damn thing. Christ, my phone plan gives me unlimited international calling. You can find the fool in the mirror........

Here's some data points you can use:

This is the Philippines; average wage is about $3 per day. Compare with price of VWS Internet version - it's not a trivial purchase.
Our time zone is GMT +8; it's 12:40PM on Saturday as I write this, and it's 10:40PM on Friday where Ambient is. Just call?
Free international calling sounds wonderful - could you point me to a telecom provider in the Philippines that offers such a deal?

At current rates for calling to the US - it'd take two weeks pay to spend an hour on the phone with Ed. That might be worth it if there was some configuration option or way of holding my keyboard that would resolve the rain problem. Unfortunately, it's a flaw in the program logic and it's going to require some programming effort (and a better understanding on Ed's part) to correct.

I've exercised the "contact support" option multiple times and haven't heard back on any of them; how many weeks or months should I wait?

Calling Ed is not a workable option here; I know you say that you don't care where I live and you're welcome to that opinion. You'd do better to understand that there are a huge number of people living in countries that are not the USA. We have weather here, too. Our lifestyles and economies are different and expecting us to behave according to US rules and your expectations is - well, draw your own conclusion.

OK, so I've sent support requests and I'm understandably reluctant to get up in the middle of the night to spend a couple of weeks pay to talk to Ed. So what's left is to spread the word about the broken code that doesn't get fixed. Maybe, just maybe, Ed will decide that it's better to fix the code than to hide away and watch his sales decline.

Here, let me put this in a form that you might understand: suppose you spent two months pay on a car and discovered that if you shut it off you couldn't restart it without jumper cables - and then it'd run badly. Suppose you contacted the dealer several times and they wouldn't even bother to reply to you. Now imagine some third party came along and said you should just call the dealer - think about it.

Thanks!

[racenet]

Here's some data points you can use:

This is the Philippines; average wage is about $3 per day. Compare with price of VWS Internet version - it's not a trivial purchase.
Our time zone is GMT +8; it's 12:40PM on Saturday as I write this, and it's 10:40PM on Friday where Ambient is. Just call?
Free international calling sounds wonderful - could you point me to a telecom provider in the Philippines that offers such a deal?

At current rates for calling to the US - it'd take two weeks pay to spend an hour on the phone with Ed. That might be worth it if there was some configuration option or way of holding my keyboard that would resolve the rain problem. Unfortunately, it's a flaw in the program logic and it's going to require some programming effort (and a better understanding on Ed's part) to correct.

I've exercised the "contact support" option multiple times and haven't heard back on any of them; how many weeks or months should I wait?

Calling Ed is not a workable option here; I know you say that you don't care where I live and you're welcome to that opinion. You'd do better to understand that there are a huge number of people living in countries that are not the USA. We have weather here, too. Our lifestyles and economies are different and expecting us to behave according to US rules and your expectations is - well, draw your own conclusion.

OK, so I've sent support requests and I'm understandably reluctant to get up in the middle of the night to spend a couple of weeks pay to talk to Ed. So what's left is to spread the word about the broken code that doesn't get fixed. Maybe, just maybe, Ed will decide that it's better to fix the code than to hide away and watch his sales decline.

Here, let me put this in a form that you might understand: suppose you spent two months pay on a car and discovered that if you shut it off you couldn't restart it without jumper cables - and then it'd run badly. Suppose you contacted the dealer several times and they wouldn't even bother to reply to you. Now imagine some third party came along and said you should just call the dealer - think about it.

Thanks!

Humm, things just don't add up here. On one hand, you complain that a phone call is too expensive, yet in another thread you spout that you live in a hugh house (4000SF+ was it) in a sub-division and the cost of living is only 7300 pesos (or whatever it was).

You lived in the US and then moved there to make, on average, only $3 per day. Just doesn't add up man!

As for te car thing above, the very FIRST thing I would have done is CALL them. Now you are just being stupid....