I never expected this day to come, but it's time to say farewell. Almost two decades ago, I went on a FutureQuest. My forum join date shows March 1, 2000. And for most of that time, I have appreciated FQ's outstanding platform, support, and openness. Unfortunately, over the last few years, the platform has begun to stagnate, and the hallmark openness all but disappeared by the end of last year. It was a good ride though ...
FQ's support was so good that I modeled the support I provide my own customers after it. A huge shout out to Bob, who I often felt started replying to my support requests before I sent them, and to Bruce for whom I have a lot of respect given the email wrangling he does.
FQ was (almost) always accommodating of special requests, going above and beyond to add new customer requested features. As a FQ reseller with clients who often had odd requirements, working with FQ was a joy as they made me look good.
The FQ Community (forums) was an actual lively community at one point. Along with a few other L33Ts, I felt good about contributing and was elated when I rose towards the top of the
reputation leaders. It is bittersweet to only see a couple of postings for all of this month.
As much as I wish I could stay, it would be a disservice to my clients, who expect a modern platform without having to worry whether the next update of a web app will simply not work on their FQ hosting account where all core web technologies (Apache, PHP, MySQL) are past end-of-life.
With most of the accounts I had at FQ already migrated away over the last few months, and only a few yearly resold ones remaining that will be closed out over the coming months, there is no longer a reason for me to visit the forums -- something I have incessantly done daily for the last two decades. No more FQ Bucks from the annual egg hunt. No more year-end new features. No more FutureQuest -- the journey has come to and end.
So long and thanks for all the phish.