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 AA036457241; Fri, 1 May 1998 11:27:22 -0700 Return-Path: <kirk@hpmsd3.sj.hp.com-DeleteThis> Received: from hpmsd3.sj.hp.com by opus.hpl.hp.com with SMTP (1.37.109.24/15.5+ECS 3.3+HPL1.1) id AA145257229; Fri, 1 May 1998 11:27:09 -0700 Received: from hpoclrf.sj.hp.com by hpmsd3.sj.hp.com with SMTP (1.38.193.4/15.5+IOS 3.22) id AA14552; Fri, 1 May 1998 11:27:08 -0700 Sender: kirk@hpmsd3.sj.hp.com-DeleteThis Message-Id: <354A13FC.670F@hpmsd3.sj.hp.com-DeleteThis> Date: Fri, 01 May 1998 11:27:08 -0700 From: Kirk Lindstrom <kirk@hpmsd3.sj.hp.com-DeleteThis> Organization: Sending from inside Hewlett Packard X-Mailer: Mozilla 3.0 (X11; I; HP-UX A.09.07 9000/735) To: wind_talk@opus.hpl.hp.com-DeleteThis Subject: Re: COTW References: <199805011755.KAA20302@mailsun3> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
Considering I usually sail at Palo Alto after work where there is NO
sensor and I go to Coyote well before the wind comes up on weekends, I
have NO NEED for the info other than it is cool. I said I "might" pay
and I had already sent in the info, but I still look at it as a
"donation" much like my support of RVWA to help pay for porta potties.
I can hear "shoreline Departure" with my scanner at home so I have a
sensor that is more indicative of the channel at Coyote too...
The point of the post is asking a few yuppies for $25 isn't going to
make anyone rich or even pay rent.
Again, I pay for perceived value and was making a comment for my
personal case.
Kirk out
>
>
> You have 4 boards valued at (I'm guessing) $4000 plus a couple of thousand
> in
> sails, masts and booms but $25 is too much to pay to help support 16 local
> on
> sight wind meters and an automated way to deliver the information to as many
> people as want to view it? It's your money but sounds like a wierd
> investment
> strategy to me.
>
> Call of the Wind supplies proprietary information generated through its own
> equipment. It is not just relaying free or government sponsored information
> (lame hour old bouy reports and the like which used to be the norm). COTW
> needs to fund itself in some way. I don't think anyone is getting rich off
> the service.
>
> If $25 might get a sailor one more good day then he should go ahead and
> "splurge".
>
>
>
>
> Thanks.
>
>
>
>
> Jeff Milum
>
> ---------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Subject: Re: COTW
> Date: 01 May 98 10:35:30
> From: Kirk Lindstrom <kirk@hpmsd3.sj.hp.com-DeleteThis>
> Reply-To: UNX03.US.ORACLE.COM:wind_talk@opus.hpl.hp.com-DeleteThis
> To: Multiple recipients of list <wind_talk@opus.hpl.hp.com-DeleteThis>
>
> I think you need patience to make money on the net. MANY are doing it
> at a loss or for general interest or whatever. I might pay the $25 to
> support, but I don't find the pager valuable enough to bother and have
> solved the "not quite enough wind" problem by having 4 boards so I can
> sail 12 to 50 knots.
>
> I've been doing a site for over a year to teach others how to invest and
> I have no motive other than it helps me to invest better myself. See my
> site , http://www.suite101.com/discussions/page.cfm/270 or
> http://www.suite101.com/topics/page.cfm/270 (If it is up and not
> crashing!) I think you just have to keep plugging away or consider it
> public service and personal education as Ken does with Windtalk and I do
> with my Suite101.com stuff.
>
> "The real danger is not that computers will begin to think like men,
> but that men will begin to think like computers." - Sidney J. Harris
>
> regards
> Kirk out
>
> ASD epoxy: 8'8" & 9' RKT & 9'6" no-nose CS, F2 Xantos285
> Wt 230#, Ht. 6'0", Usually sail on SF Bay, Cailf.
>
> http://www.suite101.com/topics/page.cfm/270
> http://www.suite101.com/discussions/page.cfm/270
>
> David St. John wrote:
> >
> > Hi Francois,http://www.suite101.com/discussions/page.cfm/270
> >
> > >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
> > ^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~ _/_X_ ^~^~^~^~^
--"There is more to life than increasing its speed." - Gandhi +----------------------------------------------------------------------+ | Kirk Lindstrom - CSSD Product R&D | Hewlett-Packard Co. M/S: 90UA | | Engineer/Scientist, Hardware | Communication Semiconductor | |------------------------------------| Solutions Division | | kirk_lindstrom@sj.hp.com-DeleteThis | | | Kirk Lindstrom / HP0100/UX | 370 W. Trimble Rd. | | ph 408 435 6404 | fax 408 435 6286 | San Jose, CA 95131-1096 | +----------------------------------------------------------------------+
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