Re: iwindsurf

From: Greg Harris (harris@skolar.com-DeleteThis.com)
Date: Wed Apr 04 2001 - 14:14:12 PDT

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Message-ID: <3ACB8EA4.C29662B0@skolar.com-DeleteThis.com>
Date: Wed, 04 Apr 2001 14:14:12 -0700
From: Greg Harris <harris@skolar.com-DeleteThis.com>
Organization: Skolar Inc.
To: wind_talk@opus.labs.agilent.com-DeleteThis.com
Subject: Re: iwindsurf
References: <87372ECCA42DD3118E3200508B2E11466977C6@ggexsf.engineering.goldengate.org-DeleteT>

btw - this is a message found in the wind_talk archives written by Ken Poulton
after CoW stopped providing free real time wind reports back in '98. Note the
admission that he is taking reports from CoW sensors.
-------------------------------------------
Re: Question re wind_afternoon sites

From: Ken Poulton (poulton@zonker.hpl.hp.com-DeleteThis.com)
Date: Wed Jul 08 1998 - 16:32:35 PDT
<snip>

> Didn't this mailing list (actually wind_thresh) contain wind report
> entries for Candlestick and Coyote Point earlier this summer, or was I
> dreaming?

No dream, but they were from Call of the Wind, which is no longer free.
http://www.windcall.com/ to subscribe.

I'd love to be able to put them back in, just so there was one place for
both COTW and NWS data, but COTW has to make enough money to pay for
their instruments. Maybe we can hold a PBS-style pledge week - when we get
100 new subscribers, COTW can make the data free again?
-------------------------------------------

> Greg, thank you for rushing to George Haye's defense; you beat him to it
> (maybe he was out sailing?).

I admit it, George is a friend and I don't like it when people bash friends of
mine when they don't know what they're talking about. My bad, I guess... Have
yourself a nice day.

Tracy Pierce wrote:

> Greg, thank you for rushing to George Haye's defense; you beat him to it
> (maybe he was out sailing?).
>
> As most of us know, George is a very enthusiastic and seemingly tireless
> SFBA board member as well as a relatively new iWindsurf employee.
>
> > where do YOU think Ken's old "Coyote and Waddell" readings were coming
> from?
>
> I don't know, and I don't really know Ken, but I'd assume, based on other
> clues of his intelligence, that all his sources are legitimate; I'd
> certainly not off-the-wall suggest that he was stealing data from Call of
> the Wind. Gotta admit it kinda rankles me when someone in an authoritative
> position spews wild guesses as if they were fact being handed down. Honest
> mistake? I sure hope (and trust) so.
>
> Again I pose the question: Does anybody know who owns the sensor (possibly
> dead, as is a similar unit at Candlestick) mounted on the roof of the
> snackbar building at Coyote? I'd venture to guess that it was quite likely
> installed by windsurfers, but I sure wouldn't state it as fact.
>
> > The real funny thing when I read your mis-information officer remark as
> <snip>
> I'm glad you found it funny, which was my intent. I really didn't mean to
> trash George as badly as you seem to interpret; I'm truly sorry it sounded
> that bad.
>
> I certainly don't envy the position in which George finds himself: the SFBA
> (on whose board George sits) sponsors a few windtalkers, yet it's George's
> livelihood to promote iWindsurf. Sounds to me like a conflict of interests
> which could easily become difficult to balance.
>
> (It's certainly not the *fault* of George Haye or iWindsurf that those SFBA
> windtalkers have mostly fallen into disrepair (tho Berkeley's now working,
> and Candlestick is very close), but the degree of penetration enjoyed by
> iWindsurf tends to cause apathy where this SFBA member service is concerned;
> iWindsurf ends up being the only game in town, which then bolsters their
> dollar-extraction position.
>
> I agree with most of the respondents to this thread: the more info, the
> better. To that end, I'm thrilled to see iWindsurf now making the NWS
> readings available (I'd sure like to see them show up on the pager, too, but
> that's not a huge issue for me - I get several of them on the pager from
> 'other sources', and I sort of like not having all my eggs in one basket).
> I'm also quite happy paying iWindsurf for all the lovely WIND info showing
> up in my pocket.
>
> But since the point of this thread is to bash iWindsurf, let me say I
> -don't- like paying them for bs such as snow reports and or fancy web pages
> with little content ("You are in a maze of twisty passages..."). I realize
> they need some perks to keep summer-only sailors subscribed, but I
> personally don't care a whit about 'realtime snow reports' - that info is
> available from more likely sources, such as the ski areas themselves, and
> iW's efforts in this area look to me like a waste of expert time. Ditto the
> fancy kludge web pages with less info than ever. Hell, I'm happy to pay for
> the info, just keep on DELIVERing!
>
> Someday soon (again, fondly hoping), we're gonna see customizable pager
> maildrop slots, and *really* get what we want: "Members, here's the list of
> available broadcasts, choose 12 for your pager. When you press Submit, be
> sure your pager's turned on and getting clear signal.". Quite do-able, but
> could easily require an icky dissection of existing infrastructure.
>
> > Maybe you might even notice that iwindsurf does things
> > like providing information about access issues on their website in an
> > attempt to help keep people informed and involved. Is that the
> > caringless corporation of rich beaurocrats you dream of? I mean who
> > really thinks the people at iwindsurf are pulling in piles of money?
> > Every so often it seems that people start whining about the fact that
> > iwindsurf shouldn't actually behave like a business and attempt to make
> > some money. Grow up.
> Uh, 'you first'? I guess you're speaking to the entire thread here. I
> personally would love to see all the fine folks at iWindsurf get VERY rich.
> Then they could can the hype and really just deliver the info, more and more
> of it. I'd be more than happy to see iWindsurf re-broadcasting the data
> from the SFBA sensors, too. And their web pages seem as likely a place as
> any for access issues etc, though these are probably better taken care of by
> local associations (ain't that what links are all about?). I'd have to
> suggest that iWindsurf got caught up in the dotcom frenzy along with many
> others, and wasted a vast amount of resources (read money) trying to become
> the only game in EVERY town.
>
> Again, more (relevant!) info is always welcome.
>
> Tracy Pierce

Next message: George Haye: "RE: iWindsurf and what we're doing for you"
Previous message: Lev Brouk: "RE: looking for input on wave boards"
In reply to: Tracy Pierce: "RE: iwindsurf"
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