First I should say I am a big fan of SGP. I have been operating it for five years on multiple telescopes and haven’t changed system because it has been pretty much rock solid, albeit with a few quirks to iron out. I have also encouraged others to sign up. I am sticking with it. However, my annual subscription is due tomorrow and I am wondering why I shouldn’t decline paying for the first time and just keep the programme running without being a subscriber. It doesn’t feel there is much point in paying $59. I know this fee allows premium support, but the program doesn’t seem to have moved forward in terms of development for a long time. The last beneficial development from my point of view was the dark mode a few years back, which hasn’t justified the cost. The new interface changes a while ago were fine, but didn’t actually move things forward very much. Most amateur astrophotographers seem to be opting for NINA which, aside from being free, has all kinds of add ons and extra features. For example, at Starfront Observatories, where one of my telescopes is housed, NINA is by far the most popular interface because of the various useful plug-ins that are available. My question is, respectfully : what significant developmental features are in the pipeline, aside from minor tweaks and bug fixes? Anything that justifies the annual subscription? I am not trolling the developers or trying to create conflict here, just a loyal customer wondering what the way forward is with this software package.
Hi there,
I stopped the premium membership for the following reason. I went to Linux from Windows because it became a platform pushing its online products. I went to SGP earlier from NINA because SGP let me focus on my imaging rather than whiz bang distractions. I’m happy with Linux and another imaging platform now because of the breath of automation features, although it does not save me any time really
Clear Skies,
Paul
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