We are not dead!!! Typically this would be meant as a joke however when we walk into a meeting and get looks of shock because people say “We heard you were dead!” It becomes something we have to remind people about.

More and more the Penguins here at FSD are asked about the usefulness of Nelder plots and if they are worth it.  So to answer the broader question this post will try to address this.

Bottom line… YES, Nelder plots are worth it.

Only an update.  Did you get your new key for FPS????

It seems we have another fun-filled announcement from FBRI.  Are we the only ones to see the underlying potential extortion part of the comments? “After all it would be a shame if that software you paid for stopped working…”  While FPS has always had a 10-year expiration that was meant to be “in good faith” to prevent outdated science from being used when better biometrics could be employed with an update.  This was then updated to a secret code to make the system work correctly otherwise bogus numbers would be created.  Everyone implement that properly? Bet not.  And now FPS will expire annually? That would be like starting up Word, and oh sorry you can’t do anything.  Even Microsoft has a more graceful fall back than that.  Who signed up for Biometrics as a Service? While we are not against the prospect of Biometrics as a Service that isn’t what the contract says.  Only the wealthy can do scientifically backed forestry? Pretty sure this is to stem the current exodus of contributors, but everyone came on board knowing that your current version would work with or without FBRI.  What happens when FBRI shutters its doors in a few years?  As there is no data, transparency or documentation to the model once it expires at that point, it is done.  Something to think about huh…

Did you get the latest FPS Update??  Does it work for you? We would love to hear your experiences so that they can be posted to the public bug log and wiki https://fps.wiki/.

It has Been a busy summer for the penguins with office visits and PROGRAMMING!!!! There has even been a smattering of biometrics and mensuration.  Hopefully, this fall FSD will be releasing a few new free products to assist in the day to day work of forest inventory.  Some of the projects will help with field work too.  But for now, let’s update you on FBRI communications.  The office penguins were not able to make it to the latest training because of the late announcement by FBRI.  But needless to say, we will be attending the annual meeting in November.  You should be too.  Sounds like a lot of changes on the horizon…

Did you get the latest FPS Update??  Does it work for you? We would love to hear your experiences so that they can be posted to the public bug log and wiki https://fps.wiki/.  Some of the last versions bugs were um interesting.

Another update between projects and office visits.  What else do we know…  Did anyone go to the last SiteGrid training??  We would like to hear from you.

Just a quick update.  Been pretty busy making a new Open Project for everyone to use freely.  More on that in the coming weeks.  Currently mixed reviews from my testers but it is extremely bare bones right now.  What else do we know…

So today I was reminded that we should keep people up to date on the happenings around the Nest and our corner of forestry.

An official update from FBRI about the latest (7.5) software.  A new link has been passed out to all?  So we will be calling this FPS 7.5.0.1.  No word on if this one was tested to properly work with windows machines.  Check your email from FBRI for the link.

An official update from FBRI about the latest (7.5) software.  However we tried to download the update from the link and the link is the original disabled software.  Now there is no word on if this package was created with the same packaging software as the original 7.0 crash.  However we are willing to bet it is.  The big deal with this version was supposed to identify your system and only install what was needed for your combination of drivers.  Now FPS should not require any real drivers if standard updated programming techniques were used.  Is FBRI still releasing FPS with non standard features.  Previous versions of FPS have used a depreciated video library.  Perhaps time will tell us what is going on.  Wondering if the upcoming workshop is still happening???