I personally really like the weather on XBMC. I have a dedicated HTPC hooked up in my living room, and the weather icon in the corner (Transparency Skin) adds a slight touch of class that really enhances the quality of XBMC. I will definitely be getting a weather add-on if it is removed from the core.

Initially I said ’sure remove weather and make it an ‘add-on’, but considering the fact that many different phone OS are using weather widgets as a built-in function of those OSes, shows the importance of weather.
I say keep it a core part of xbmc.

“in favor of sticking our heads out the window.”

I use it for the upcoming forecast, not current weather.

Meh, I don’t care. IMHO you can always check the weather on your phone, tablet, computer, through the window or whatever :-)

The weather is a great feature but I agree with removing it from the core. Though for us end users, we are unlikely to notice any difference (and I’m sure most are glad of that)

We live in a climate where the weather tends to fluctuate greatly certain times of the year, so having a convenient heads up to the coming weather is handy. Not to mention that the weather greatly increases the SAF.

I support the choice to pull it out and make it an add-on. I like lean software with a lot of add-ons a lot more than bloated software.

Where I live, in the middle top right of nowhere, the weather was never right. My Zip code includes to many regions (Coast and Inland) and with other regions being bigger then where I live my forcast was always wrong.
If different plugins exist for weather, maybe one will be my corretc local forcast.

I am not to fussed either, weather.com is normally 3-10deg c off the actual temperature in my country, area. Having a update-able plug-in would be great, I’d like make a Au version that gets the weather from a au source.

But hey, love you works.

I think there is some value in having weather forecasts available on xbmc however I agree that this should be moved out of the core and as an add-on.

I think there is some value in having weather forecasts available within xbmc but I agree that it doesnt belong in the core of xbmc and better suited as an add-on.

Cool and when this add on is ready (i.e. for development, not use) where can we find it and hack it to use a better weather service than weather.com? We Aussies need some proper BOM data!!

or summer’s coming… down under ;)

yeah, weather.com is always well off the mark over on the west coast of aus too, so an addon based system to make it easier to develop something based on a local source would be great!

keep the weather!

I agree that the Weather functionality should in principle be an add-on but I would love have seen that more effort is being put into the Audioengine or quality of the graphics drivers (Hardware acceleration on Linux) instead of making major changes to secondary functionality off XBMC.

As long as I can still have the temperature displayed at the top of the screen (or where ever the skin puts it), it doesn’t matter to me.

Definitely the right way to go, in my opinion. XBMC should a media centre at its core, with ALL THESE extensions/addons available!! I know i’m only 1 amongst many, but my personal view is that XBMC should be user friendly for 2 yr olds, up to 100 yr olds.

Install, add sources, start viewing! Enjoying a sexy library should be a cinch to setup.

Then the settings and addons should be available for custom setups, advanced users etc…

Is that a Game of Thrones reference?

The weather forecast is something I use occasionely but maybe a addon would suit it better!
+1 for Game of Thrones reference :)

Winter is only coming if you are in the Northern Hemisphere!

RogerS :
I agree that the Weather functionality should in principle be an add-on but I would love have seen that more effort is being put into the Audioengine or quality of the graphics drivers (Hardware acceleration on Linux) instead of making major changes to secondary functionality off XBMC.

I completely agree in that the hardware accelleration needs more work, and this is more pressing than the weather widget.

I would also rather see the Weather app as an won addon then to be in the core. I thought that was the idea behind Eden and all upcoming version, to make everything more modular

I applaud your attitude! “we here at XBMC don’t like doing things halfway”

I agree, weather should not be part of the core, an add-on/plug-in for the weather is the right approach.

I have always had weather enabled, the main reason being “because I can”. In all honesty I have never used it to actually check the weather or weather forecasts (like many people indicate, I use my phone for that). Thus I support moving it out of the xbmc core

I used to use the weather app, but since I got a smart phone I don’t use the one in xbmc anymore. But I would agree that making it a addon is a good decision as it makes xbmc less bloated. I hate how many software developers just add and add too many forced features to the main app so it gets very huge and have alot of functions and features you rarely use. Keep it simple and have the core features in xbmc, then its up to people’s preferences if they wanna add more apps etc. :).

Good job team xbmc, I cannot wait (like all others) for the next big release of xbmc.

Thanks! I would also love to see weather condition fanart + animated icons in the default Confluence skin :)

@Carl
I guess it is, not sure it’s a great reference to make though. On game of thrones the winter isn’t exactly a good thing ;)

Good plan! I think taking Weather out of the core is a good move as it streamlines the build and focuses on what XBMC is really good at. Weather should have been an addon all along.

Strange that XBMC coders seem to focus on benine nonsense instead of making advances in the actual relevent stuff…24bit audio support, bitstreaming protected audio formats for supported hardware etc.

It’s baffling the time wasted and slow progress, then when something is looked into it’s some big massive taske. We’re talking about removing the weather section. Surely a 10 minute job.

I don’t really care if it’s a core or add-on functionality. I actually use the “sticking our heads out the window” approach and it kinda worked for me in the last 36 years. That being said, you have all my support to whatever you decide.

@Mister fish, you can have your 10m: http://www.online-stopwatch.com/countdown-timer/

We use the weather all the time. Getting weather alerts when I am in my theater room is a great feature. Hate to think a tornado was heading my way and I didn’t even know it.
Not sure that there is any reason to have it remain in the core of XBMC. If it goes to the add-ons, I think that it would only make it better.

I *KNEW* spiff was a unicorn :-P

Hi ! i miss the weather and i think it was a good part of XBMC. I look every day what is goning on with the weather problem and is there a fix at the forum. So please fix that for ME ;-) At the other side a stable and fast xbmc is also important for me. I dont realy need a 24 bit sound ( for what is that ? ) ;-) but fast and stable is must have.

its not in Plex and I don’t miss it, so I vote to have it as an add on like the Weather Plus add-on.

A lot of people putting in their 2c about whether they use the weather app or not. Just because x number of people use it doesn’t mean it shouldn’t be an app, after all the imdb tracker is and I’m sure almost everyone uses it. If it’s popular enough it should be a default app. This is more about being able to update the weather independent of xbmc itself if the API changes. Incidentally it also allows choosing other weather apps instead or not showing weather at all. Since Eden lets you put apps on the main bar in Confluence I don’t think it will make much difference to us, except with one approach the weather app might break until we get the next xbmc, and with the other approach the weather might break until we download the latest update for the addon.

I rather it be part of the overall system core as this would be all ways a blade and not a program you have to pull up. It also makes the overall look seem very professional.

Either way is fine, I just hope it can be applied to units running 10.0 “Dharma” as I am not ready to upgrade to Eden at this time. Regards.

@natethomas LOL

@MisterFish There are millions of opensource projects available on the internet, however XBMC is one of only a small percentage that is THIS good at what it does. Very few projects are as active as XBMC, and fewer still remain active as long as this one has. I’m all about constructive criticism, Devs need it (even the ones that think they don’t!), but your comment is not constructive in the least.

Everyone values various features more than others, just because something is not important to you does not mean it is not important to others. Also, there are no other HTPC solutions out there (commercial, opensource, whatever) that hold a candle to the functionality and features of XBMC. I’ve tried just about all of them, and this is king of the heap– bugs, glitches, shortcomings and all.

What exactly are you contributing to the development of the software? Are you helping to identify and eliminate bugs? Do you provide any addons or other solutions that help fill the needs being overlooked by the core or to work around bugs/problems that are not being addressed in a timely manner (per your opinion)? It is asshats like yourself that drain the life from community driven projects because the devs get tired of busting their butts, for free and on their own personal free time, just to have people like you bitch that it is not fast enough or you don’t like that YOUR priority is not being addressed ahead of the next guys.

The simple solution to your problem is to get a refund and apply it to another HTPC solution, because there are LOADS of better options out there. If you want things done faster, for free, then do them yourself. That is EXACTLY why opensource software exists. People can take this source and do whatever they want with it, prioritize improvements however they like, and do it at the pace they feel it should be done at. To sit on your hands and do none of the coding yourself and then COMPLAIN that things are not improving fast enough for your liking, while using the software for absolutely FREE, is the pinnacle of douche-baggery.

+1 for keeping

10x and 2 thumbs up guys

@Mister fish
seriously this is the dumbest comment ever. you obviously have no coding experience. how do you know they are not also working on the things you listed.

Is it possible to have it remain part of the core in the sense of a “socket” ? So that skins have a reference set as if it were part of the core. Weather add-on creators can either follow the socket specs or go from scratch and work with skinners on an individual basis for extra features.

@114 Not everybody is nice, no need for name calling though..

@MisterFish … Be nice. It is FREE. A lot of hard work, by Team XBMC, the skinners, the add-on creators, and countless others goes into this so we can all enjoy it. If you have a feature request, I am sure you can find the correct place to post it :)

I didn’t even notice that the weather information wasn’t working.

I too say remove the Weather app from the core and make it an add-on. It doesn’t work for me in XBMC anyhow and I run a Weather app under my OS.

@ MisterFish — It’s hard to put across to you how thoughtless and disrepectful your ill-thought comment was. Maybe consider an apology to the VERY hard working guys who give us this stuff for free.

@ 114 — Would you mind awfully if I were to steal your word ‘douche-baggery’ That, my friend, needs to be in a dictionary!

@ Team XBMC — Please ignore the occasional ingrate and carry on the fantastic work at a pace of YOUR choosing. Thank-you.

Make it Add On, those who want it can just add it, those who doesn’t finally gets rid of it. For me it’s useless since I live in a place that doesn’t work with the Weather function anyway. Keep XBMC what it sholud be, the best media experience software, don’t make it a Jack of all trades.

I use the weather in XBMC a lot, so I’m happy it’s going to get fixed. It’s a pity that it’s not going to be fixed in Dharma :-(

Thanks for all the good work!

i think the best decision would be: try not to be dependant on someone else’s software.

If you’re putting time and effort in a program, make sure you have controll over the code. So i would say No Weather, since a unilateral decision about changing api’s etc breaks the function. Make it an addon

Just keep it and link to a placeholder number. By the time you get rid of it and finally release your beta there will be a solution…
don’t be such pussies