Back in June, I posted about the National Weather Service requesting comments on a proposed policy to make weather data officially "open access" -- a proposal opposed by the chairman of Accuweather and other firms who wanted to make publicly-funded weather data only available through commercial vendors. Well, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA, the department overseeing the NWS) has decided to go forward with the plan as proposed, making explicit a "Commitment to Open Internet-Based Standards for Information Sharing." Of the nearly 1500 comments received, 1190 supported the policy, while only 176 opposed it.

Free/Open Source applications making use of NWS xml feeds are widely available. Now we know that they will remain so. Good work, everyone!