[Freerealty] Developer status

[Patrick Fleming]

Hey all,

Me again. As of last week, the site I originally used Jon's OpenRealty 
for has been changed. It is now at another host, the code used is 
completely different (to the best of my knowledge), and I no longer have 
  a personal interest in keeping *that site* moving on with upgrades and 
fixes.

This means a few things to those out there using FreeRealty:

1)Ideas must come from you guys. Other than the demo site I have up, I'm 
not seeing the code in day to day use. That may change as things evolve 
for me, but for now I need feedback.

2)My focus and direction will most likely change. I am still very 
dedicated to the ongoing development of FreeRealty, but again my cues 
will be taken from user requests instead of the real estate office I 
originally installed OR for. I potentially see a larger focus for myself 
as I no longer am looking to a single install as my purpose.

3)I have a *little* more time to work on the list of items from Jake ;).

4)I also will be looking at other ways to use the code. I will most 
likely be in touch with other web site operators to determine how I 
might best accomplish alternative code use.

5)Ongoing changes to PHP and MySQL will require continuing development 
to maintain compatibility. Getting FreeRealty to work with Postgresql, 
which I have limited knowledge of, is another potential goal.

My original purpose for this code no longer exists and so I must either 
find a reason to continue maintaining and improving it or pass the 
torch. My hope is that I can find a reason, if only because I dared to 
take it on in the first place.

The community of FreeRealty/OpenRealty (Jon's version 2.x) users and 
developers has been an enjoyable one. I hope to maintain my contacts 
with people who I have helped in using and understanding this bundle of 
code.

Working with FreeRealty caused me to learn-at least a little- MySQL, 
PHP, Apache administration, Mailman mailing list software, and PunBB 
bulletin board software (ok that one was really simple to install- it 
just worked). I have taken this learning and used it on other sites such 
as www.northernazfinancial.com www.lawson4sheriff.com 
www.jaysindianarts.net and internally. While I am far from the graphics 
expert, I do find continual use for the PHP language and the MySQL database.

There are Sourceforge and Freshmeat entries for FreeRealty, and it has 
caught the attention of the GNU Project, listed on www.gnu.org.

So, as I begin the next phase of development and support, I again ask 
for requests and bug reports so we can continue to make this still 
viable project even better.

Patrick