The New ActiveCaptain

[BandB]

Originally Posted by Suijin

There are some pretty cool things they could do with integrating boatcards...personalization, seeing where friends are, etc. will be interesting to see where it goes, hopefully.

And a lot of us they will lose completely if they try to force more of the boatcards on us.

[BobHorn]

There is a button in the top right hand corner that makes the chart go full screen, no Flash required. ESC takes it back.

[rwidman]

Originally Posted by BobHorn

There is a button in the top right hand corner that makes the chart go full screen, no Flash required. ESC takes it back.

Yes but that's an extra step.

And when you close and reopen the app, it reverts back to a world (road) map, not the screen or area where you left it.

[rwidman]

Originally Posted by CaptTom

Very true. I suspect Garmin's business model is very different from what Jeff & Karen's was.

Garmin (like most corporations) tends more toward squeezing every nickel out of every asset ......!

CaptTom, it seems you are not fond of Garmin for some reason as you've made three posts to that affect. That's your right of course, but nobody else cares.

Nobody is forcing you to use Garmin products or services. There are several other companies offering similar products and services. Take your pick.

[Suijin]

Originally Posted by BandB

And a lot of us they will lose completely if they try to force more of the boatcards on us.

That strikes me as cutting off your nose to spite your face. There is a huge amount of value in the AC content. Ditching it entirely because you don't want to take 3 mins to fill out the card or think your privacy is being violated (when it's not) seems foolish.

[Alberg30Shill]

I'm done with providing for profit companies with content for free that they then monetize. I dropped Windows 10 in favor of Mint, the Windows XP of Linux and will now drop OpenCaptain for the Squido plugin in OpenCPN which is non windows/Linux and Mac OS only. I suggest others explore migrating away from Windows 10 that has become very marine use unfriendly and contribute info to Squido, integrated into OpenCPN.

[Alberg30Shill]

That should be sQuiddio, stupid auto correct :-) https://opencpn.org/OpenCPN/plugins/sQuiddio.html

[BandB]

Originally Posted by Suijin

That strikes me as cutting off your nose to spite your face. There is a huge amount of value in the AC content. Ditching it entirely because you don't want to take 3 mins to fill out the card or think your privacy is being violated (when it's not) seems foolish.

Not giving the name of my boats or the locations to him or anyone. Now, to this point, not required. Have to fill out the form but can put anything you want. Now am I disclosing my name to him.

[CaptTom]

Originally Posted by rwidman

CaptTom, it seems you are not fond of Garmin for some reason as you've made three posts to that affect. That's your right of course, but nobody else cares.

Nobody is forcing you to use Garmin products or services. There are several other companies offering similar products and services. Take your pick.

Yes, I have some specific issues with Garmin's business model, which I'll mention when the discussion turns that way. I do like their hardware.

And I agree that no-one cares in the big picture of things. On the other hand, that's sort of what this forum is for; to help us all learn something, even if it's just to hear varying opinions about different products.

Originally Posted by Alberg30Shill

I'm done with providing for profit companies with content for free that they then monetize.

This is a legitimate concern. I admit I share way more information than I probably should. But it's not a bad thing to keep your privacy in mind when doing anything on line.

For the record, I DO have an e-boat card and have tried to use the app to see who's cruising around me. It hasn't seemed to catch on yet, so I don't really know yet whether it'll be useful or just an invasion of privacy.

[Hoosiersailor]

These larger companies want the data. I have been working with several smaller digital companies over the years and they all get bought by big corporations for the sole purpose of data collection. They don't really care about the application they purchased. GE is the latest to get in on the "big data" (really hate that term anymore) wagon in my industry. Like Google or Apple they want to know where you are going, how much time you spend there, when you go, when you leave, what marinas are popular, etc...they collect it all then sell it.

Freaking Google knows when I get up, when and where I go to work, where I eat, when I go to sleep... I am not at all a paranoid person and could for the most part care less but it is getting a little crazy... And if I want to use the Google map to navigate, they will know where I am.

[Suijin]

Originally Posted by Alberg30Shill

I'm done with providing for profit companies with content for free that they then monetize. .

...in exchange for incredibly valuable content that they provide you for free.

What from your perspective would be a better and still viable business model?

[BandB]

Originally Posted by Suijin

...in exchange for incredibly valuable content that they provide you for free.

What from your perspective would be a better and still viable business model?

Providing information to the owner of a site is one thing. Providing it for them to share with others is quite different. Providing it to be used in a social media situation, to be shared with anyone who happens to participate, to include identifying information is beyond anything I'm willing to do or think is reasonable or necessary. The social media aspect of eboatcards is one man's compulsion and when the majority of others polled said they didn't like it, he turned on them with personal attacks. Knowing his volatility is the reason I would never provide any identifying information to him or his site.

Now, the viable business model was the one already there for Active Captain. Information. Use of advertisers. I believe I'm more than paid my way through making hundreds of routes available to others, through reviews, and even more through heavy patronage of his advertisers. I have heavily used AC to select marinas and have spent six figures with marinas chosen on the site. I think I've fully paid my way without providing personal identifying information to the world. As to the very valuable content, let's remember than on AC it has come from us, only been managed by the site.

I'm not going to post anywhere publicly what boat I'm on and where I am for the world to see. It's like posting on facebook, you're going on a three week vacation which translates to "hello all thieves. Welcome to my house for three weeks."

[Hoosiersailor]

Originally Posted by BandB

Providing information to the owner of a site is one thing. Providing it for them to share with others is quite different. Providing it to be used in a social media situation, to be shared with anyone who happens to participate, to include identifying information is beyond anything I'm willing to do or think is reasonable or necessary. The social media aspect of eboatcards is one man's compulsion and when the majority of others polled said they didn't like it, he turned on them with personal attacks. Knowing his volatility is the reason I would never provide any identifying information to him or his site.

Now, the viable business model was the one already there for Active Captain. Information. Use of advertisers. I believe I'm more than paid my way through making hundreds of routes available to others, through reviews, and even more through heavy patronage of his advertisers. I have heavily used AC to select marinas and have spent six figures with marinas chosen on the site. I think I've fully paid my way without providing personal identifying information to the world. As to the very valuable content, let's remember than on AC it has come from us, only been managed by the site.

I'm not going to post anywhere publicly what boat I'm on and where I am for the world to see. It's like posting on facebook, you're going on a three week vacation which translates to "hello all thieves. Welcome to my house for three weeks."

I'm not sure what you put in your eboat card profile, but there is hardly anything there that is identifying that would lead thieves to my house while on vacation....and you can always make up some crap.

[BandB]

Originally Posted by Hoosiersailor

I'm not sure what you put in your eboat card profile, but there is hardly anything there that is identifying that would lead thieves to my house while on vacation....and you can always make up some crap.

Which is exactly what I did. Made up crap. And not going to share with others so they can find who is close to them. We are private people and will remain that way.

[BobHorn]

Originally Posted by rwidman

Yes but that's an extra step.

And when you close and reopen the app, it reverts back to a world (road) map, not the screen or area where you left it.

I agree, not saving your last view is a really bad feature. Maybe they'll fix that sometime in the future.