Received: from opus.hpl.hp.com (opus-fddi.hpl.hp.com) by jr.hpl.hp.com with ESMTP (1.37.109.24/15.5+ECS 3.3+HPL1.1) id AA246164140; Thu, 30 Apr 1998 23:29:00 -0700 Return-Path: <david@windcall.com-DeleteThis> Received: from hplms26.hpl.hp.com by opus.hpl.hp.com with ESMTP (1.37.109.24/15.5+ECS 3.3+HPL1.1) id AA179154137; Thu, 30 Apr 1998 23:28:57 -0700 Received: from sequoia.barnworth.com (sequoia.barnworth.com [205.147.4.1]) by hplms26.hpl.hp.com (8.8.6/8.8.6 HPLabs Relay) with ESMTP id XAA22966 for <wind_talk@opus.hpl.hp.com-DeleteThis>; Thu, 30 Apr 1998 23:28:57 -0700 (PDT) Received: from padres.windcall.com ([206.55.225.81]) by sequoia.barnworth.com (8.8.5/8.8.5) with SMTP id XAA18082; Thu, 30 Apr 1998 23:15:35 -0700 Message-Id: <3.0.32.19980430221729.00c34090@205.147.4.1-DeleteThis> X-Sender: david@205.147.4.1-DeleteThis (Unverified) X-Mailer: Windows Eudora Pro Version 3.0 (32) Date: Thu, 30 Apr 1998 22:17:42 -0700 To: wind_talk@opus.hpl.hp.com-DeleteThis From: "David St. John" <david@windcall.com-DeleteThis> Subject: Re: COTW Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
Hi Francois,
>Too bad we can not get more frequent informations, otherwise we
>could have the same as cotw for free.
The problem is that good wind information is NOT free. It takes a lot of
work. You must know this from the outstanding job you've done with your
own website. Ken Poulton's report is another example of great work. But
don't forget that a lot of Ken's data comes from windcall.com. Jim Martin
(Call of the Wind's president and only full-time employee) has spent 5
years building a system of wind sensors while living in a garage - literally.
When I proposed putting his data on the web three years ago, I told him I'd
only do it if we kept the site free. He was worried that giving it away
would eat into his pager business. At the time, when not many people were
on the web, I argued successfully with him that it was one thing to get
wind reports on your desk, and quite another to get them in you pocket. So
the pager had value over and above the website. I still believe that. But
now, as more and more people have fast access to the web from home and
work, I think he might be right. Why buy a pager when you can get the
information for free on the web?
I had hoped that as the web matured we'd eventually render that point moot,
and be able to support the site and the business with advertising revenue
alone. Following that hope, I've built and maintained the website at an
average of 10 hours a week, for two and a half years, virtually for no
monetary compensation (okay, Jim gives me free pager service), while I
worked more than full-time at a regular job. I'm not complaining, I love
it! I've pulled many an all-nighter writing and programming for windcall.com.
And I've pounded the pavement trying to drum up sponsorship for the site,
with very marginal success. It's becoming clear that a TV-like, pure
advertising model does not work for most websites (unless you're Yahoo!),
and many are going to a more magazine-like/cable-TV model: charge a little
for subscriptions. That's the route we're taking as well.
Your BWR website has some great information and great graphics! More power
to you if you can provide it for free.
>Do you now how delayed they plan to be ?
The free reports will probably be delayed 3 hours, although we're still
discussing that.
We are truly trying to make the real-time wind reports as accessible as
possible and have tried to set the rates as reasonably as we can. We're
charging $9 a month, or $49 for six months (about the length of the Bay
Area season). $79 for the whole year. As Nick Rayner pointed out, the $25
for he rest of this year is a "charter member", "never-to-be-repeated"
deal. We don't expect to get rich this way - just provide a service and be
reasonably compensated for that service. If I could have food in my
fridge, my bills paid, and my kids sent to college, I'd run the site for
nothing in a heartbeat!
Whew, that was a lot of words. There are more, actually, in the form of an
open letter from Jim Martin and myself to windcall.com users, at
http://www.windcall.com/ragepage/get/letters/open.html (if anyone else has
some thoughts on this stuff, you can add them to that page)
Regards,
David
v /| --- David St. John
v / | --- Call of the Wind
/o_/ --- david@windcall.com-DeleteThis
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