[paulycy]

It appears that the answers so far are (respectively) “none” and “no”.

So far, you seem to be right.

The lack of any defining answer one way or another is a fundamental problem IMHO.

[is_is]

Here is a statement from Jim earlier in this thread for those who missed it.. Well, I can say that there are definitely two things that will never happen. 1) Banner ads. 2) Oracle. And a third is a total replacement. Don’t have the financial wherewithal. To those who wish to leave because of it, see ya. If FR dies, that’s that.

there just seems to be a bitterness that i don't understand

for me....that attitude, especially the bold, is where the problem lies.....it comes down to......donate....it's my house i owe you nothing....

so, it is then up to the individual whether or not they can accept those terms.....

as someone said earlier.....Jim is squandering a gift from God.....

just sayin.....

[Jim Robinson]

Hey, you want us to get an all new system with all new software and add a few more pricey techs, system programmers and database administrators to keep it all working 100% of the time 24/7/365? Well, start coughing up the big bucks.

It’s going to take tens of thousands of donations and many with at least three zeros each after the comma to accomplish the task. And that would be EVERY month like clock work to make the payroll. Once you take on a big load of expensive overhead, there’s no going back. As it is, we get a couple thousand donations per quarter averaging about $30 bucks each and there’s no guarantees we can cover this quarter’s expenses much less next quarter. We’re on a pay as we go system and we have zero employees. We just ask for enough to pay the bills.

Throwing more money at the problem won’t solve it. It was a technical issue and we just had to keep troubleshooting until we found it. And no, we’re not going to invite a bunch of strangers in to get their hands on our secure systems. John has been programming since he was 14 and he’s pushing 40 now. He built these systems and he’s an expert in them.

And no, we are not going to throw out our software and rewrite it and no we’re not going to move on to some other database system. There are no guarantees that any other system can do a better job and not without hiring a staff to build and maintain it and that’s for sure. And we don’t have the financial wherewithal to do any of that anyway. Maybe if we had a couple million bucks at our disposal and a couple years to do it in we could build an iron-clad system. And maybe not.

All I can say is, if someone else can do it better and cheaper, then please step right on up and get ‘er done!! I’ll bow out and retire. Thankyouverymuch.

Hit it boys:

https://secure.freerepublic.com/donate/

And no, we have no plans of taking FR commercial. I like it the way it is. Not sure I could handle getting rich.