author More than a few people have read my post the other day as somehow “picking sides” between Zillow and Upstream, or, worse, even slamming the work of those who created the RETS 1.x Update specification or the Bridge Compose product. That certainly was not my intent.
The point I was trying to make is simple: We need one standard to be required for update, not two, three, or, heaven forbid, more. Importantly, RETS 1.x Update has never been required by RESO, it’s always been optional, and, to be clear, FBS has not implemented it yet, because we haven’t had requests to do so until recently.
And now, of course, RESO is focused on developing the Web API to replace RETS 1.x, and so there’s a very real possibility that FBS could be faced with implementing two standards, which we’re strongly opposed to doing. This conclusion isn’t a comment on 1.x update technology itself and certainly not any judgment about those who created the technology, it was simply a recognition of the direction the industry is headed along with our plea for a single path forward.
Something else that came through clearly in the comments to my post was that other vendors have already implemented RETS 1.x, which, of course, means they’re going to have to implement more than one standard if the Web API is the way forward. I agree completely that existing implementations of RETS 1.x argue against requiring the Web API update and so we’re open to that conversation. Let’s have the discussion, but the goal has to be clear, we need to agree on a single path forward for what standard is to be required.
As humans, we all love to compete and take sides, and it’s even tempting to put RESO in that category, as if it’s in a competition with Zillow, Upstream, etc. The truth is that RESO does not exist independent of its members and RESO is only as good as the cooperation of those members. So, FBS was NOT picking sides between Zillow and Upstream, we’re saying, hey, set down your dodge balls for a moment and pick one standard so that we can get to work implementing it.
Over many years, FBS has invested millions of dollars to support the standards efforts (including RETS 1.x), and we think it is high-time that the industry get solidly behind these efforts to return some of that investment so that we’re not constantly having to support multiple standards. Again, I’m looking forward to seeing you all next week in Austin and working together to provide the leadership the industry needs.
