Beware of Unscrupulous Developers and Consultants!

Authentic WattPlot™

Copied Knock-off

Reproducing certain non-proprietary functions and features between competing software products is common and largely accepted practice in the software industry.  Copying interfaces, layouts, and captions (down to even the colors) is not.  It is not only unethical, it's against the law.  The images shown above capture one of the most flagrant violations of this.  The image on the left is from the free WattPlot FirstMATE Viewer program, connected to a licensed copy of WattPlot.  The image on the right is from software now being distributed by greenHouse Computers and being passed off as their own product.  As incredible as this may seem, the unscrupulous developer behind the second image has gone even further:

"gmViewer will eventually be a free product that includes all the functions in WattPlot, somewhere near the functionality of WattPlot MultiMATE.  I've been considering a new free product, tentatively called "gmSummary" that would "summarize" all of the GMState.csv files that come from gmViewer.  The result would be a free product comparable to WattPlot CheckMATE -- simple bar graphs based on the summary file contents.  I have to figure out how to provide the GMState.csv file without requiring network file sharing or FTP, and having it work inside a web server.  For 1.00.07, gmViewer will support the minute summary files, and probably per-device spreadsheets."

as posted by Julie Haugh on the OutBack User Forum, Jan. 23, 2010
(posting was later deleted by OutBack moderators)

Frankly, we don't think anyone would be fooled by this blatant campaign to undermine legitimate recognition for our work or circumvent the small license fee that we charge for it.  If you have any doubt, we encourage you to compare the real thing with the free rip-off at no cost.  The mask will come off quickly enough.

Like many WattPlot users, the developer in question contributed a number of useful ideas for improving existing WattPlot features and adding new ones - much of our innovation is driven by requests and suggestions for enhancements, and we are proud of that.  However, if one can't tell the difference between sharing ideas versus unethical business practices, one should not be in business.

While the images and quote don't say much about this consultant's creative design skills, they do speak volumes about their lack of integrity.  When challenged by some users on this point, they trotted out personal emails from us and posted them in their entirety on a public forum, showing that we had made the mistake of communicating cooperatively in the past.  Can you imagine any professional consultant doing that?

The renewable energy industry is growing rapidly, and there are a lot of unscrupulous operators out there, looking for a easy ride.  We strongly advise everyone to carefully consider the background of anyone you are considering to do work for you in this industry, be it monitoring services or the less rigorously defined world of consulting.

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