Abandonware?

[wx-watch]

It looks like either by choice or thought no fault of his own WeatherCat has been abandoned!

It's ok saying the developer is too busy to post but it only takes a coupe of seconds to say "Sorry chaps I am very busy but will get back to you as soon as I can"

Of course there is the possibility (and I do hope not obviously) he is unwell but even so you would expect a quick post from someone in his "team" to this effect.

Should we be warning people looking to buy and install WeatherCat that now is perhaps not the best time?

[jennajon]

Just my 0.2 worth....but I would begin to look for other alternatives for myself rather than start a panic advising others.

Stu has always been in the shadows but comes to the forefront when necessary. I truly hope there is nothing wrong other than his interests have waned. It happens.

FYI: Weather Tracker and Weathersnoop seem to be abandonware. According to Weather Tracker developer Dean, he is no longer supporting the program and will set to free "soon".
I believe that now makes Weather Display the only program still actively supported? There is Cumulus MX, but it is a real task to get it up and running.

*edited for clarity*

[wx-watch]

I found Cumulus MX easy to set up

https://longsuttonweather.co.uk

and have it also feeding my other site

https://longsutton-weather.co.uk/index.php

I have also changed all my 3rd party uploads from WeatherCat to Cumulus MX

[xairbusdriver]

I have absolutely no experience with the app, any of its current contributors nor forums, but I'd suggest reading the CumulusMX Wiki before committing to an install. Particularly the following text in the "Steve's final beta MX" section of the Wiki.

Steve Loft [. He] made the following comments, as he handed the project over to "the community":

• This version of the code is post b3043 as it includes some changes that Steve had made, but not yet released.
• Offered completely without support in the hope that it might be useful.
• The code is very badly structured due to the 'Frankenstein' way it was cobbled together from various places. Some of it is a machine translation of parts of Cumulus 1.

Perhaps a visit to the CumulusMX forums would help make any decisions about installing the app.

[wx-watch]

I am not a coder so I can make no comment about the state of the CMX code.

All I can say is that I found it easy to install and it has run impeccably. There are frequent updates/bug fixes and it has a lively active forum.

I am not saying that everyone should dump WeatherCat - I still have it running here.

All I am saying is that *IF* WeatherCat is not developed and more, there may possibly come a time in the not too distant future where a Monterey update breaks it.

Thus it makes sense to look elsewhere, so you have something to fall back on, just in case.

I have three instances of CMX running, two on a Raspberry Pi4b and one on a Mac mini.

The first Raspberry Pi is fed by my Vantage Pro 2 via a Davis WeatherLink Live and also has a Davis AirLink Live.
The second is fed by my Ecowitt Sensors and has an Ecowitt lightning detector and an Ecowitt AQI.
The Mac instance is fed by my Vantage Pro 2 via a USB Data Logger - this is just for testing at the moment because WeatherCat uses the USB Data Logger!

Oh and I also have WeeWX running as well!

I very much hope WeatherCat does continue and I would happily pay for a Major Version update,

But if it doesn't I feel I  am covered!!!

[The Grand Poohbah]

I am quite happy with the current version of WeatherCat (3.12 Build 34 (3.1.2)) and expect to be using it for many more years.

Many thanks to Stu for keeping it current with the macOS operating systems so that I can continue to use it. (I'm currently using macOS Monterey 12.0.1 on a Mac mini (M1, 2020).)

[elagache]

Dear wx-watch and WeatherCat faithful,

It looks like either by choice or thought no fault of his own WeatherCat has been abandoned!

It's ok saying the developer is too busy to post but it only takes a coupe of seconds to say "Sorry chaps I am very busy but will get back to you as soon as I can"

Your point is well taken, but you fail to grasp the implications.

Of course there is the possibility (and I do hope not obviously) he is unwell but even so you would expect a quick post from someone in his "team" to this effect.

Obviously you don't understand that Stu is WeatherCat.  WeatherCat is a one man band.  The holiday season is the time when we reconnect with old friends.  I just learned that a fellow Buick owner had a very bad case of COVID, spent months in ICU, and was given only 20% chance to live.  He is still struggling with just typing. 

My own health has taken a serious turn for the worse and I have considerable difficulty getting to the forum each day to answer questions.  Bad things do happen in this world and nobody should be cavalier when someone who is important to us drops off the radar.

I know Stu well enough to realize this isn't a simple matter of laziness or overwork, and I am deeply worried.  WeatherCat isn't simply a piece of software nor is this forum simply a technical support website.  We all have choices to make.  Those choices aren't simply pragmatic.  They reveal how we see ourselves and each other.  Is peace on earth and goodwill to all men nothing more than silly rhetoric?  Try being sick around Christmas and see what the answer feels like.

Edouard

[wx-watch]

I totally accept everything you are saying.

I obviously wish Stu well and hope he is not ill.

However WeatherCat is not Freeware or Shareware it is a paid for commercial product and surely I should be able to expect regular upgrades/bug fixes for the major release I purchased? Or at least some info about the future of WeatherCat?

WeatherCat is still available for purchase - can you hand on heart say to anyone coming to this forum seeking advice that you can fully recommend purchasing it or recommend with the caveat it might get no further updates.

I am running Monterey on my Mac Mini - when I first installed Monterey and when I installed the latest Monterey update I got the message that WeatherCat needs to updated as it might no longer work with future updates to the OS. It seems to be working perfectly at the moment and I hope to continue running it for a long time to come.

And yes, I have the latest Silicon Labs Drivers and the latest WeatherCat

[xairbusdriver]

Speaking of your OS and hardware, have you posted in the recent poll? That could be useful info for any developer.

[elagache]

Dear wx-watch, X-Air, and WeatherCat faithful,

I totally accept everything you are saying.

I obviously wish Stu well and hope he is not ill.

You certainly pay much more lip service to your grievances than your concern for Stu.  If he suffering from some sort of health issue, will your complaints reinvigorate him to restart work on WeatherCat?

However WeatherCat is not Freeware or Shareware it is a paid for commercial product and surely I should be able to expect regular upgrades/bug fixes for the major release I purchased? Or at least some info about the future of WeatherCat?
. . . . .

So exactly how much money have you paid for WeatherCat?  Just what exactly did you expect for your investment - lifetime service?  Software gets discontinued all the time and Apple is most definitely partially to blame.  There was a time when Apple bent over backward to make sure developers could thrive.  Apple is increasingly squeezing developers and many simply give up.  End users have no say in such things.

I'm still using Mojave in part because of two pieces of software really find useful Max Menus and Spell Catcher.  Support for Spell Catcher ended when the developer died of pancreatic cancer.  Life isn't fair and the software industry is like any other - cold, cruel, and only interesting it one thing - profit.  Griping about breached contracts is about as useful as pushing on a rope.  It won't get you any updates to WeatherCat.

WeatherCat is a huge exception to the rule because I believe Stu really wrote more for himself than for us.  It represents a far greater value than most software for that reason.  Nobody should complain about not getting their money's worth.  We have all been spoiled by Stu and should be honest about it.

So here we are and everyone has to deal with the uncertainty.  Some people will decide to switch to software other than WeatherCat.  Certainly they are free to do so and there are perfectly appropriate venues to explore your options like WX-Forum.

However, coming here and bad-mouthing Stu is kicking a man who clearly is down for some reason.  As I wrote before, it is Christmas time and it is supposed to be more than vulgar materialism.  I have way too many things to worry about as it is.  If you must gripe - do it somewhere else.

Edouard

[wx-watch]

"Software gets discontinued all the time" - so you agree there is a possibility WeatherCat has been discontinued?

"However, coming here and bad-mouthing Stu is kicking a man who clearly is down for some reason" - this is my point - how do we know he is down and not simply abandoned WeatherCat
 He did after all abandon the predecessor to WeatherCat did he not.

I appreciate I am asking questions that you don't want to think about but I can well imagine other WeatherCat users are worried about its future as well.

Perhaps we should start a a poll - "How many WeatherCat users are worried about its future?"

[xairbusdriver]

"Worrying" is over-rated, especially about things you have absolutely no control.
Well, you might have some control if you have a good grasp of programming...   Perhaps you could start by registering with Apple Developer, the tools they offer are free!

Take care of things you do control and help others whenever you can. Life is short.

[Blicj11]

I am quite happy with the current version of WeatherCat (3.12 Build 34 (3.1.2)) and expect to be using it for many more years.

Many thanks to Stu for keeping it current with the macOS operating systems so that I can continue to use it...

Me too.

[wurzelmac]

As long as WeatherCat is working (thinkin' about the next few 20 or 30 years) I won't change anything in my setup. Why should I? 

[Weatheraardvark]

right now it works for me.

 Perhaps some young enterprisiing coder out there might do their own version of software for the mac.  There is this, Weatherdisplay (which I understand their guy is on hiatus for a while) and weathersnoop.     Oh we do have weatherlink paid and not paid version.

Perhaps we are a dying breed of anyone who wants this hobby in the first place.

IF the author of the software isn't intersted for now, that is ok,  as long as it works with all the versions of MACOSX.