[Rets-dev] Google Base Housing vs. RETS

[Frank Wanicka]

"It's no more complicated than any other standard."

 

Ummm, I think there are a lot of people on the list that would disagree with
that, assuming we are talking about 1.x, since 2.0 is not finalized. In a
vacuum, your statement might be true. But it's failure to build upon
virtually any existing standards means every piece of it needed to be
learned from scratch. Most standards attempt to build on other standards,
which means the true level of complication is less. And 2.0 looks to be
pretty complicated as well. I'm already seeing discussions of RETS Lite on
the list before 2.0 is finalized. That should tell you something.

 

"Given the high adoption rate apparently there are others that do not think
it is too complicated either."

 

This is part of the problem. The people on the inside think everything is
going just fine with RETS. Trust me, there are many entities that have not
adopted RETS or been slow to adopt because of its complicated nature. 1.x is
a mess IMO, and 2.0 has been dragging on for years. I attended the New
Orleans meeting (as well as several others prior to that one), and at that
point, the plan was to demo 2.0 at that year's NAR event and have the 2.0
standard finalized 6 months after that. Obviously, that was wildly
optimistic given the speed at which things get accomplished in the RETS
community.

 

By the time one of your versions gets finalized, it is outdated with regard
to other current industry standards. 1.x was certainly that way, and 2.0 is
heading in the same direction IMO. I don't know what the solution is, but
certainly admitting there is a problem would be a good first step. A good
second step would be to look at what similar technologies/standards people
are flocking to and adopting en masse, and try to learn from them.
Googlebase is obviously not a complete replacement for RETS, but maybe
something could be learned from it. The KISS principle seems to be lacking
in the RETS community.

 

There are obviously a lot of talented people working on RETS. I truly don't
mean to diminish the work that has been done, but anytime it takes 5 years
to finalize what is basically an Internet standard, there is a problem. 25
years ago in the MLS community, that may be an acceptable amount of time,
but it is not in 2007. 

 

Is there an official timeline for finalizing 2.0?

 

_________________
Frank Wanicka
Real Estate Technologies, Inc. 

 

 

From: rets-dev-bounces at rets.org [mailto:rets-dev-bounces at rets.org] On Behalf
Of Stuart Schuessler
Sent: Thursday, March 15, 2007 10:33 AM
To: dsrockets at gmail.com; Rets-dev at rets.org
Subject: RE: [Rets-dev] Google Base Housing vs. RETS

 

>> So why is RETS so complicated again? 

It's no more complicated than any other standard.  Given the high adoption
rate apparently there are others that do not think it is too complicated
either.  Any ideas to make it less complicated are always welcome.  Have you
been to any of the meetings?

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