April 10, 2011 - Vendor Alley

I’ve been writing about the Flash vs. HTML5 debate for awhile as it pertains to MLS systems and a post by Discover MLS caught my attention. Currently their is only one Flash based MLS system, Discover MLS. The big guys (LPS and Corelogic’s Marketlinx) have also bet on Flash for their next generation MLS systems, reinsight and Fusion respectively.

Last year Rapattoni made a decision to abandon plans to port their MLS to Microsoft’s Silverlight platform (Microsoft’s version of Flash). In a recent blog post Discover MLS’s Bret Wiener announced:

“We’re very anxious to watch the evolution of browser support for HTML5, and we’re equally anxious to watch the evolution of Flash support on mobile devices. As the future unfolds, Discover is committed to leveraging the relative strengths of both and offering the best applications we can, using the best technologies of the day.”

Bret makes it clear that they are not giving up on Flash and they still believe it is the best solution. He highlights issues with HTML5 but concedes that Apple’s iOS is something that is not going away and will probably not implement Flash anytime soon.

I would say that the question is not whether Apple will ever implement Flash but
whether Adobe will ever be able to deliver a Flash solution that works well on mobile devices and doesn’t drain your battery like a vacuum hose.

Only time will tell if LPS and CoreLogic will reach the same conclusion. ReInsight and Fusion were announced many many months ago. So far no signs of the what Bret touts as the “fast paced development” process of Flash based apps for either MLS system.

Meanwhile as LPS and CoreLogic spend hundred of thousands of dollars ~~porting~~ building a new MLS system in Flash and Discover works to perfect its HTML5 solution; companies like FBS are brewing up some really innovative stuff (WordPress plugin and an evolving API) and Rapattoni has shored up their MLS system to work on all browsers (including the iPad).

I wish good luck the guys at Discover MLS and look forward to seeing how this all shakes out.

I’ve been on the board and now working with the Council of MLS (CMLS) for many years. The group had been a organization that facilitates the discussion and sharing of best practices for MLS providers for over 50 years. The main way of doing this was through an annual conference. A couple of things that make CMLS unique is that every year a different MLS provider hosts the conference in their city. The other is that the conference is very inclusive to vendors.

Over the past 3 to 4 years a shift has been happening where CMLS has been taking more of an active role in the issues that effect the MLS industry as a whole. This has been facilitated by the overall success of the conference and a lot of forward thinking board members.

At this year’s Clareity MLS Executive Workshop many of the biggest discussions centered around to topic of Listing Syndication. Some meeting participants even called out CMLS specifically o help educate the industry on the benefits and pitfalls of this practice.

Merri Jo Cowen, this year board president of CMLS, was quick to act. So this year CMLS is doing something new. During the upcoming NAR Midyear Meeting in D.C. CMLS will hold a Listing Syndication Workshop. This is free to CMLS members but seating is very limited. To find out more information please visit the CMLS blog.

If you would like to whet your whistle with some discussion about Listing Syndication here are two recent blog posts about the subject:

Listing Syndication 2.0 – A brief white paper put out by Victor Lund of the WAV Group outlining some of the issues regarding Listing Syndication.

More thoughts on Listing Syndication – A blog post by Matt Cohen of Clareity. Matt goes a bit more in detail on challenges of some possible solutions regarding Listing Syndication.

See you there!

UPDATE: Here’s another blog post by Clareity that does a great job of outlining many aspects of the issues. “The New Listing Syndication Bill of Rights“

Discover MLS adds HTML5 version for mobile devices.

CMLS asks -“Do You Know Where Your Data Is?”