RegGFX wrote
Basically weather.com wasn't happy because they had no way of getting something called "Pay Per Click" feedback. They basically told me that such modules cut them out of the loop in this regard. To them they felt that their FREE url feed product was being used for profit by other programmers and they got nothing....
Now I feel like I have to defend my usage of their 'free' feed.
What they call 'widgets' are mostly small applets for docks, sidebars, etc, normally made for fun by third party users who are also programmers. They are NOT the actual program, although they do add a little bit of value (but then so do the HUNDREDS of other small applets out there: think Konfabulator for the Mac, Yahoo Widgets, Microsoft Widgets for the Vista Sidebar, ObjectDock and RocketDock docklets, etc...). The application developer does NOT profit from the weather feed simply because the focus of his application is definitely NOT on providing weather information.
In my particular case I develop a suite of Windows GUI and usability enhancements which happen to include something I call 'modules': these are small integrated applets that display different pieces of system information, like CPU and Network activity, RAM usage, a speaking clock that syncs the time with Internet time servers, a POP3/IMAP Email checker, and, of course, a Weather monitor - among many other things.
Note that all those modules are simply a part (and a very, very, small part) of the whole application. I could completely remove the weather forecast feature (and still use METAR codes for current weather conditions) without it diminishing the application's value in the least. The weather forecast is definitely NOT the reason why people buy Winstep Xtreme, although it is nice to be able to have that information available for my users.
Now, I did my best to comply with the Weather Channel TOS by providing links back to them and displaying their logo, and registered with them when I decided to use their XML feed (and please note that, from what I was told, they are still providing the feed for clients that do not identify themselves with partner IDs). I spent many hours adding code to make the whole thing work. My user base does not make a dent on their bandwidth usage either, that is also for sure.
What I won't do, though, is turn my application into Adware for them (or anybody else, for that matter).
When I registered with the Weather Channel, they implied they were providing a free service - if it weren't for that, I would never have used their weather forecast feed, or would have looked elsewhere for alternatives (and there are some). I think it's quite sleazy on their part to do what they did today, and they didn't even bother giving fair warning (6 days?! Come on, that's a joke, right?! And how about providing a mechanism to verify that you are indeed within their TOS before cutting the feed?).
They encouraged developers from day one to use their XML feed (why make it available otherwise?). If nothing else, we've been adding to their brand recognition!
It would be one thing if they had turned to me saying 'look, we don't think your application strictly adheres to our TOS because of this and that, let's find a way to sort this out in a timely manner so both parties are happy' but no, they decided to cut the feed to everyone by deliberately breaking the URL! Nuts!!! My confidence in them and their XML feed is now exactly ZERO, and you can be sure I will be looking for alternatives/backups.