Author Topic: CWOP through Access  (Read 5835 times)

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Offline ctccbc

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CWOP through Access
« on: June 03, 2019, 12:15:19 PM »
Any idea of whether or not Acurite will add CWOP as a sharing option through the Access? I would love it if they did add the CWOP option.  I upload to Weather Underground, but my initial thought is that they probably will not add CWOP, since I believe their focus would be in other areas and not adding new sharing options through Access. In fact, we are probably fortunate that Weather Underground is even included.

Thanks
Chris
moreheadcityweather.com 

 

Offline nincehelser

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Re: CWOP through Access
« Reply #1 on: June 03, 2019, 12:46:02 PM »
Their intention has always been to add other sharing services. 

You can see hints of that in the way it is structured.

Offline DoctorKnow

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Re: CWOP through Access
« Reply #2 on: June 03, 2019, 02:22:12 PM »
We're not going to be around forever, so I hope they can go faster than they have up until this point! :D

Offline Jstx

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Re: CWOP through Access
« Reply #3 on: June 03, 2019, 02:26:33 PM »
Any idea of whether or not Acurite will add CWOP as a sharing option through the Access? I would love it if they did add the CWOP option.  I upload to Weather Underground, but my initial thought is that they probably will not add CWOP, since I believe their focus would be in other areas and not adding new sharing options through Access. In fact, we are probably fortunate that Weather Underground is even included.

Thanks
Chris
moreheadcityweather.com

Their intention has always been to add other sharing services. 

You can see hints of that in the way it is structured.

Back a few months ago I had an Acurite 'customer service chat session' and asked that question of the Acurite rep. The answer was basically a NO.
I'll grant that the rep's wording of "At this time..." allows a tiny bit of wiggle room for a possible upgrade to the Access to support uploading your PWS data to CWOP et al.. But I wouldn't hold my breath, the odds of them doing that is less than 2%, IMO; given their, and others, track records.

I'll quote part of my Acurite partial 'chat session' below, along with a link to my full previous WXForum comment about it that I made here [w/more detail]:

https://www.wxforum.net/index.php?topic=36525.msg375412#msg375412

WXForum:  "Topic: Support for other than WU", Reply #15 on: April 04, 2019:

"...Support chat:
Me: "Is there any way to have this PWS communicate with other weather services besides WU and Acurite? WX services like CWOP?"
AcuRite: "At this time we only communicate with Weather Underground and Myacurite.com"
Me: "Does the Atlas model do so?"
AcuRite: "Regrettably, it does not all our online devices only work with Weather Underground and Myacurite.com"

There would be such a simple software fix to allow comms with other PWS upload websites (CWOP, PWS, etc), and AcuRite (and other PWS vendors) apparently have no intention of doing that very easy addition.
With most PWS's you have to buy tons of extra, expensive, devices and software just to accomplish such a simple task (looking at Davis here, especially). ..."

Sounds pretty definitive to me, it ain't happening:
["At this time we only communicate with Weather Underground and Myacurite.com"
Me: "Does the Atlas model do so?"
AcuRite: "Regrettably, it does not all our online devices only work with Weather Underground and Myacurite.com"]

Offline DoctorKnow

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Re: CWOP through Access
« Reply #4 on: June 03, 2019, 02:34:12 PM »
When Acurite was advertising the "Elite", and the new hardware was shown on paper with the specs, they said they were building the Elite to "NWS standards", where the wind speed updated every 2 seconds, and I wonder if they will allow sharing to CWOP with that system when and if they ever release it?

Since CWOP only updates every 5 minutes, I don't see where it matters a great deal.

Offline nincehelser

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Re: CWOP through Access
« Reply #5 on: June 03, 2019, 02:57:19 PM »
Any idea of whether or not Acurite will add CWOP as a sharing option through the Access? I would love it if they did add the CWOP option.  I upload to Weather Underground, but my initial thought is that they probably will not add CWOP, since I believe their focus would be in other areas and not adding new sharing options through Access. In fact, we are probably fortunate that Weather Underground is even included.

Thanks
Chris
moreheadcityweather.com

Their intention has always been to add other sharing services. 

You can see hints of that in the way it is structured.

Back a few months ago I had an Acurite 'customer service chat session' and asked that question of the Acurite rep. The answer was basically a NO.
I'll grant that the rep's wording of "At this time..." allows a tiny bit of wiggle room for a possible upgrade to the Access to support uploading your PWS data to CWOP et al.. But I wouldn't hold my breath, the odds of them doing that is less than 2%, IMO; given their, and others, track records.

I'll quote part of my Acurite partial 'chat session' below, along with a link to my full previous WXForum comment about it that I made here [w/more detail]:

https://www.wxforum.net/index.php?topic=36525.msg375412#msg375412

WXForum:  "Topic: Support for other than WU", Reply #15 on: April 04, 2019:

"...Support chat:
Me: "Is there any way to have this PWS communicate with other weather services besides WU and Acurite? WX services like CWOP?"
AcuRite: "At this time we only communicate with Weather Underground and Myacurite.com"
Me: "Does the Atlas model do so?"
AcuRite: "Regrettably, it does not all our online devices only work with Weather Underground and Myacurite.com"

There would be such a simple software fix to allow comms with other PWS upload websites (CWOP, PWS, etc), and AcuRite (and other PWS vendors) apparently have no intention of doing that very easy addition.
With most PWS's you have to buy tons of extra, expensive, devices and software just to accomplish such a simple task (looking at Davis here, especially). ..."

Sounds pretty definitive to me, it ain't happening:
["At this time we only communicate with Weather Underground and Myacurite.com"
Me: "Does the Atlas model do so?"
AcuRite: "Regrettably, it does not all our online devices only work with Weather Underground and Myacurite.com"]

Ummm, yeah. 

Calling that “definitive” is quite the stretch.



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Offline Jstx

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Re: CWOP through Access
« Reply #6 on: June 03, 2019, 03:25:53 PM »


Ummm, yeah. 

Calling that “definitive” is quite the stretch.



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Perhaps you're just not as cynical or attuned to 'corpora-speak' as I am?
Not that there's anything wrong with being an optimist I guess, but it's pretty well been beaten out of me [spent almost forty years in a major corp, saw/heard it all].
Two recent personal examples, one with a vehicle dealer who did their best to shaft me out of an extra $1K on an SUV [I had to get pretty...errrm... 'legal' on the tricky b......s]; and secondly in buying an expensive new lawn tractor and having it damaged in delivery by an incompetent delivery service/trucker.
« Last Edit: June 03, 2019, 03:27:34 PM by Jstx »

Offline CW2274

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Re: CWOP through Access
« Reply #7 on: June 03, 2019, 03:32:10 PM »
This is not a far fetched question nowadays, as I think most will agree, but what happens if WU goes under? Where will you go?

Offline nincehelser

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Re: CWOP through Access
« Reply #8 on: June 03, 2019, 04:00:54 PM »


Ummm, yeah. 

Calling that “definitive” is quite the stretch.



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Perhaps you're just not as cynical or attuned to 'corpora-speak' as I am?
Not that there's anything wrong with being an optimist I guess, but it's pretty well been beaten out of me [spent almost forty years in a major corp, saw/heard it all].
Two recent personal examples, one with a vehicle dealer who did their best to shaft me out of an extra $1K on an SUV [I had to get pretty...errrm... 'legal' on the tricky b......s]; and secondly in buying an expensive new lawn tractor and having it damaged in delivery by an incompetent delivery service/trucker.

I can handle “corporate speak” with the best of them.  There’s nothing interesting or unusual in your transcript.

The support folk simply are not at liberty to release information other than what has been approved by their management.  That should be obvious to anyone with “corporate experience”.


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Offline nincehelser

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Re: CWOP through Access
« Reply #9 on: June 03, 2019, 04:10:35 PM »
This is not a far fetched question nowadays, as I think most will agree, but what happens if WU goes under? Where will you go?

If it comes to that, there’s still MyAcuRite, and it’s not that hard to re-direct the data that was going to wunderground with local DNS.

But it’s far more likely AcuRite would just change services with an update to Access.


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Offline galfert

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Re: CWOP through Access
« Reply #10 on: June 03, 2019, 04:48:30 PM »
There would be such a simple software fix to allow comms with other PWS upload websites (CWOP, PWS, etc), and AcuRite (and other PWS vendors) apparently have no intention of doing that very easy addition.
With most PWS's you have to buy tons of extra, expensive, devices and software just to accomplish such a simple task (looking at Davis here, especially). ..."

I take exception with the bold parts of your comment in regards to other PWS vendors. A bit of an exaggeration to use the word "tons" when you only need 1 or 2 extra things. The recent Davis WeatherLink Live device has a built in API that any 3rd party weather software can tap into very easily just for the purpose of doing what you want with your data. Prior to the WLL release you could just plug your USB data logger or IP logger to be picked up by various 3rd party software. None of these solutions are complicated nor expensive. A DIY Meteobridge is not expensive, a Raspberry Pi running various software is not expensive. With a Davis you need a data logger...that is a given to connect it online. So the data logger should be considered part of the overall expensive cost of the Davis station itself, because you need the data logger to send to even Weatherlink.com. The extra parts beyond the data logger are not expensive.

Also with Davis you don't need to buy or configure any extra (inexpensive solutions) via Weatherlink.com if you want to send your data to CWOP, GLOBE, and I think some other services. It is free too.

Moving on to Ambient Weather you could always use an inexpensive ObserverIP and then run a Meteobridge (easy, no expert knowledge required). You could run a Raspberry Pi with WeeWx, also not expensive (but granted this requires some technical knowledge).

With Ecowitt you can use an inexpensive GW1000 and also connect that to a Meteobridge (works with Ambient hardware also), and the latest firmware from Ecowitt even lets you redirect traffic using Ecowitt or Weather Underground protocols to any internal "custom server" you want, making it even easier to run WeeWx without needing to create an isolated WiFi access point to capture traffic. So it is now even easier than ever to run WeeWx with Ecowitt or Ambient hardware. A DIY Meteobridge is not crazy money either.

Companies like Davis, Ambient, and Ecowitt have demonstrated that it is simple, and cost effective to add capabilities to your station with various methods. To me this communicates the point that these companies understand what their customers want and they are delivering. Say what you want about Acurite...but don't lump these other companies in with what Acuite has (or doesn't have) going on.

I will though defend Acurite somewhat. A Raspberry Pi running Acuparse is not expensive.
« Last Edit: June 03, 2019, 05:09:02 PM by galfert »
Ecowitt GW1000 | Meteobridge on Raspberry Pi
WU: KFLWINTE111  |  PWSweather: KFLWINTE111
CWOP: FW3708  |  AWEKAS: 14814
Windy: pws-f075acbe
Weather Underground Issue Tracking
Tele-Pole

Offline CW2274

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Re: CWOP through Access
« Reply #11 on: June 03, 2019, 04:59:18 PM »
Honestly, if I were in the market for a PWS and knowing the current state of WU and that they're basically the only outlet available by said PWS manufacturer, I wouldn't hesitate to look elsewhere, no-brainer.

Offline nincehelser

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Re: CWOP through Access
« Reply #12 on: June 03, 2019, 05:32:10 PM »
Honestly, if I were in the market for a PWS and knowing the current state of WU and that they're basically the only outlet available by said PWS manufacturer, I wouldn't hesitate to look elsewhere, no-brainer.

It's also a no-brainer to realize third-party options exist.

Offline CW2274

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Re: CWOP through Access
« Reply #13 on: June 03, 2019, 05:51:32 PM »
Honestly, if I were in the market for a PWS and knowing the current state of WU and that they're basically the only outlet available by said PWS manufacturer, I wouldn't hesitate to look elsewhere, no-brainer.

It's also a no-brainer to realize third-party options exist.
Oh? Plug-n-play? What hoops must one jump through?

Offline nincehelser

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Re: CWOP through Access
« Reply #14 on: June 03, 2019, 05:53:51 PM »
Yeah... like all the other solutions are "plug-and-play".   :roll:

This fear-mongering is lame.

Interesting that people with zero experience with the hardware or software in question are such "experts".

Offline CW2274

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Re: CWOP through Access
« Reply #15 on: June 03, 2019, 06:12:12 PM »
Yeah... like all the other solutions are "plug-and-play".   :roll:

This fear-mongering is lame.

Interesting that people with zero experience with the hardware or software in question are such "experts".
Those were legitimate questions as I sure as hell never claimed to be "expert" on your equipment and thought others may want to know, cause I surely don't need to.
As far as plug-n-play, I basically AM an expert at Davis's equipment, and that's exactly what it is, a plug in data logger that allows me to put my data pretty much wherever I want.

Offline galfert

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Re: CWOP through Access
« Reply #16 on: June 03, 2019, 06:41:18 PM »
Yeah... like all the other solutions are "plug-and-play".   :roll:

This fear-mongering is lame.

Interesting that people with zero experience with the hardware or software in question are such "experts".

Yes many of the solutions I mentioned are plug-and-play.
Ecowitt GW1000 | Meteobridge on Raspberry Pi
WU: KFLWINTE111  |  PWSweather: KFLWINTE111
CWOP: FW3708  |  AWEKAS: 14814
Windy: pws-f075acbe
Weather Underground Issue Tracking
Tele-Pole

Offline nincehelser

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Re: CWOP through Access
« Reply #17 on: June 03, 2019, 06:44:46 PM »
Yeah... like all the other solutions are "plug-and-play".   :roll:

This fear-mongering is lame.

Interesting that people with zero experience with the hardware or software in question are such "experts".
Those were legitimate questions as I sure as hell never claimed to be "expert" on your equipment and thought others may want to know, cause I surely don't need to.
As far as plug-n-play, I basically AM an expert at Davis's equipment, and that's exactly what it is, a plug in data logger that allows me to put my data pretty much wherever I want.

 #-o

Right.  I've owned a Davis, so enough with that BS.  Jstx was certainly right on that point.

As I pointed out early on, adding other services to Acurite's systems is already baked into the design.

They aren't idiots unaware of what's going on around them.  (Neither are the folks at wunderground)









Offline CW2274

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Re: CWOP through Access
« Reply #18 on: June 03, 2019, 06:47:59 PM »
Yeah... like all the other solutions are "plug-and-play".   :roll:

This fear-mongering is lame.

Interesting that people with zero experience with the hardware or software in question are such "experts".
Those were legitimate questions as I sure as hell never claimed to be "expert" on your equipment and thought others may want to know, cause I surely don't need to.
As far as plug-n-play, I basically AM an expert at Davis's equipment, and that's exactly what it is, a plug in data logger that allows me to put my data pretty much wherever I want.
They aren't idiots unaware of what's going on around them.  (Neither are the folks at wunderground)
:lol: I'm sure others would disagree...

Offline nincehelser

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Re: CWOP through Access
« Reply #19 on: June 03, 2019, 06:54:40 PM »
Yeah... like all the other solutions are "plug-and-play".   :roll:

This fear-mongering is lame.

Interesting that people with zero experience with the hardware or software in question are such "experts".

Yes many of the solutions I mentioned are plug-and-play.

Like I said, Jstx was certainly spot-on with his comment.

I could just as well say a Pi is "plug-and-play", but many would disagree with that comment. 

It just depends on your level of comfort.






Offline nincehelser

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Re: CWOP through Access
« Reply #20 on: June 03, 2019, 07:01:22 PM »
Yeah... like all the other solutions are "plug-and-play".   :roll:

This fear-mongering is lame.

Interesting that people with zero experience with the hardware or software in question are such "experts".
Those were legitimate questions as I sure as hell never claimed to be "expert" on your equipment and thought others may want to know, cause I surely don't need to.
As far as plug-n-play, I basically AM an expert at Davis's equipment, and that's exactly what it is, a plug in data logger that allows me to put my data pretty much wherever I want.
They aren't idiots unaware of what's going on around them.  (Neither are the folks at wunderground)
:lol: I'm sure others would disagree...

I'm sure they will, but I'm also sure they wouldn't do any better if they found themselves in the same circumstances. 

Offline Jstx

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Re: CWOP through Access
« Reply #21 on: June 03, 2019, 07:38:07 PM »

...
I take exception with the bold parts of your comment in regards to other PWS vendors. A bit of an exaggeration to use the word "tons" when you only need 1 or 2 extra things. ...

Calm down, galfert, as a fellow [more formerly now] nerd, I usually appreciate most of your comments, they're generally very well researched, detailed, and most informative.
However, just step back, zoom out, and reread your comment, you have basically made my case.

Which is that in today's electronics world, what you [and I] describe as the complicated and convoluted cobbling together of many units of hardware and software in order to functionally accomplish a rather simple set of tasks: to obtain a collection of WX data points, do some processing and formatting of that data, log/record it locally in a database, and then forward it on to various [mostly IP] destinations. All at prices that I don't consider particularly inexpensive [of course I haven't angled to get beta test or eval models either].

I, and most of us, have smartphones, tablets, and many other devices that are far more complex than any prosumer-grade PWS, and they are often quite inexpensive.
Looking at just the radio subsystems alone, some [even most] smartphones and tabs come equipped with a suite of radios working in 6 or 7 general bands [sure, some may be SDR's]. You have various "cellular/data" bands and protocols, WiFi [several], Bluetooth, GPS, NFC, even DECT band in some*, etc.
Hordes of sensors [baro, proximity, etc], and dozens of other subsystems. Then there's all the rest of things these little 'supercomputers' do [hey, I began nerdyness on mainframe systems with IIRC a 5.5 microsecond cycle time, ~5MHz; which seemed blindingly fast on a Tektronix screen of the day].

All in a fairly simple to use small form-factor, and at prices from that of the cheapest to higher end PWS's.
Sure, a market with economies of scale, but that is no longer as much of a factor as before, with almost everything 'commodized' today, including the engineering.

More importantly, if the current PWS producers don't wake the hell up, some newcomers are going to step in and -kill- them, all across the range.

* I've advocated for the robust, mature DECT band to become the standard of PWS unit-unit comms here and elsewhere.
« Last Edit: June 03, 2019, 07:42:02 PM by Jstx »

Offline galfert

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Re: CWOP through Access
« Reply #22 on: June 03, 2019, 08:25:35 PM »

...
I take exception with the bold parts of your comment in regards to other PWS vendors. A bit of an exaggeration to use the word "tons" when you only need 1 or 2 extra things. ...

Calm down, galfert, as a fellow [more formerly now] nerd, I usually appreciate most of your comments, they're generally very well researched, detailed, and most informative.
However, just step back, zoom out, and reread your comment, you have basically made my case.

Which is that in today's electronics world, what you [and I] describe as the complicated and convoluted cobbling together of many units of hardware and software in order to functionally accomplish a rather simple set of tasks: to obtain a collection of WX data points, do some processing and formatting of that data, log/record it locally in a database, and then forward it on to various [mostly IP] destinations. All at prices that I don't consider particularly inexpensive [of course I haven't angled to get beta test or eval models either].

I, and most of us, have smartphones, tablets, and many other devices that are far more complex than any prosumer-grade PWS, and they are often quite inexpensive.
Looking at just the radio subsystems alone, some [even most] smartphones and tabs come equipped with a suite of radios working in 6 or 7 general bands [sure, some may be SDR's]. You have various "cellular/data" bands and protocols, WiFi [several], Bluetooth, GPS, NFC, even DECT band in some*, etc.
Hordes of sensors [baro, proximity, etc], and dozens of other subsystems. Then there's all the rest of things these little 'supercomputers' do [hey, I began nerdyness on mainframe systems with IIRC a 5.5 microsecond cycle time, ~5MHz; which seemed blindingly fast on a Tektronix screen of the day].

All in a fairly simple to use small form-factor, and at prices from that of the cheapest to higher end PWS's.
Sure, a market with economies of scale, but that is no longer as much of a factor as before, with almost everything 'commodized' today, including the engineering.

More importantly, if the current PWS producers don't wake the hell up, some newcomers are going to step in and -kill- them, all across the range.

* I've advocated for the robust, mature DECT band to become the standard of PWS unit-unit comms here and elsewhere.

Okay I see your point in that the many options themselves makes it complicated for what would be a simple task if the manufacture had added that functionality to do so directly.

So in that case lets look at the following....

Acurite, Ambient, Davis, Ewcowitt all send data to their own services...myAcurite, Ambientweather.net, Weatherlink.com, and Ecowitt.net. So we can say they all offer that as a simple alternative to WU.

The next thing they all have in common is that they all send to WU.

But that is where it stops and Acurite offers no more out of the box experience. Because without added hardware nor software you can do the following:
Davis (with any of these loggers: USB, IP, WLL) ---> Weatherlink.com ---> CWOP, GLOBE and maybe other services (don't know what else there might be).
Ambient console ---> Ambientweather.net ---> PWSweather
Ambient, Ecowitt and other FO console ---> WeatherCloud
Ecowitt and other FO console ---> MetOffice WOW

It is clear to me that these other companies offer other choices than just their weather network and WU.

Taking it to the next level of complexity but still pretty basic there are plug-and-play solutions that require no Linux, no Pi, no advanced networking skills:
Davis (any logger) ---> Meteobridge (WeatherBridge), Weather-Display or Cumulus on a PC
Davis ---> WiFiLogger or Meteobridge Nano
Ambient ---> ObserverIP ---> Meteobridge (WeatherBridge)
Ambient or Ecowitt ---> GW1000 ---> Meteobridge (WeatherBridge)

There I left out all the complicated Linux and Pi solutions, and the ones that require advanced networking skills and specialized hardware.

Pretty soon the Fine Offset API protocol of the GW1000 will be out in the public and I expect even more software compatibility.

If having choices means complexity so be it. I think it is pretty much the same thing as choosing a flavor of Android phone to buy, or what laptop to buy, or any of the numerous choices normal people are expected to make to find the right solution to their wants/needs.
« Last Edit: June 03, 2019, 08:29:42 PM by galfert »
Ecowitt GW1000 | Meteobridge on Raspberry Pi
WU: KFLWINTE111  |  PWSweather: KFLWINTE111
CWOP: FW3708  |  AWEKAS: 14814
Windy: pws-f075acbe
Weather Underground Issue Tracking
Tele-Pole

Offline nincehelser

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Re: CWOP through Access
« Reply #23 on: June 03, 2019, 08:46:26 PM »
When (and if) Acurite decides to "flip the switch", it will be an easy "out-of-box" experience, including the installed base.

I'm sure they have contingency plans if wunderground goes belly-up.

Again, they are far more aware of what's going on than some people here think.


Offline Jstx

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Re: CWOP through Access
« Reply #24 on: June 03, 2019, 09:40:40 PM »


Okay I see your point in that the many options themselves makes it complicated for what would be a simple task if the manufacture had added that functionality to do so directly.

So in that case lets look at the following....

Acurite, Ambient, Davis, Ewcowitt all send data to their own services...myAcurite, Ambientweather.net, Weatherlink.com, and Ecowitt.net. So we can say they all offer that as a simple alternative to WU.

The next thing they all have in common is that they all send to WU.

But that is where it stops and Acurite offers no more out of the box experience. Because without added hardware nor software you can do the following:
Davis (with any of these loggers: USB, IP, WLL) ---> Weatherlink.com ---> CWOP, GLOBE and maybe other services (don't know what else there might be).
Ambient console ---> Ambientweather.net ---> PWSweather
Ambient, Ecowitt and other FO console ---> WeatherCloud
Ecowitt and other FO console ---> MetOffice WOW

It is clear to me that these other companies offer other choices than just their weather network and WU.

Taking it to the next level of complexity but still pretty basic there are plug-and-play solutions that require no Linux, no Pi, no advanced networking skills:
Davis (any logger) ---> Meteobridge (WeatherBridge), Weather-Display or Cumulus on a PC
Davis ---> WiFiLogger or Meteobridge Nano
Ambient ---> ObserverIP ---> Meteobridge (WeatherBridge)
Ambient or Ecowitt ---> GW1000 ---> Meteobridge (WeatherBridge)

There I left out all the complicated Linux and Pi solutions, and the ones that require advanced networking skills and specialized hardware.

Pretty soon the Fine Offset API protocol of the GW1000 will be out in the public and I expect even more software compatibility.

If having choices means complexity so be it. I think it is pretty much the same thing as choosing a flavor of Android phone to buy, or what laptop to buy, or any of the numerous choices normal people are expected to make to find the right solution to their wants/needs.
[/quote]

With my LaCrosse PWS I use the HeavyWeather program which interfaces with the USB stick that comms with the LC console; the prog does the local 'dashboard' display and data logging, etc.
Then much of the data is sent off to an app: the internet IP traffic is handled by a very competent little prog called  WUHU.
WUHU comms with: WU, Weatherbug, PWSWeather, AWEKAS, CWOP, and MO-WOW; more protocols and endpoints could be added.
It accepts various forms of input from various ports, and a long list of PWS makers and models [some now dated], including Davis and the scientific high-end stuff. If upgraded, other destinations, interfaces, and protocols could easily be added [Easy for me to comment on it, eh? I do have a glimmer of how that is a non-trivial project...].
Unfortunately, development ceased sometime ago. WUHU even has a subforum here, a shame that it couldn't have continued on.
It's a one app solution to what you laid out above in all that [still] complexity.

So the ideal 'one prog does it all' software WX formatter-uploader package can be done; with some work, WUHU or some other app could probably do/be it.
Suggest that you download a copy of both these progs, or at least WUHU, and have a look at the fairly extensive capabilities [albeit getting obsoleted] and see the potential of some 'industry compliance' standards; or an app that makes it all pretty transparent to the end user.
If the industry would agree on some basic standards, like the marine electronics NMEA one, this would all be much easier.

Which is why I've mentioned the present day PWS heavies perhaps becoming endangered clinging to their proprietary architectures and schemes. You remember how the PC industry got shaken out way back when [~1980's on].


 

anything