As many of you know, Bob Keeney has been the president of ARBP since its inception in 2008.  He had been the guiding force of ARBP for the past three years and with his stewardship, ARBP has grown to a strong, viable organization in the Real Studio community.  As Bob has mentioned in other posts, the time has come for him to step down as President and let others help guide ARBP.

At the ARBP board meeting on April 20, 2011, the new board was officially put in place.  I am pleased to announce it here:

Paul Lefebvre, President (LogicalVue Software; paul@logicalvue.com)

Bob Keeney, Treasurer (BKeeney Software; bobk@bkeeney.com)

Marc Zeedar, Secretary (Real Studio Developer Magazine; publisher@rbdeveloper.com)

Scott Boss (Nonturnal Coding Monkeys; scott@nocturnalcodingmonkeys.com)

Geoff Perlman (Real Software; geoff@realsoftware.com)

I am honored to be taking over as president.  I only hope I can do 1/10 of what Bob was able to do as president.  Bob isn't going anywhere, though.  He will remain on the board as treasurer.  The rest of the board is all-new.  Marc Zeedar joins the board and will take over as secretary.  Also joining the board is Scott Boss, who will focus on volunteer coordination.  And lastly, I am pleased to announce that Geoff Perlman, CEO of Real Software, is also now on the board.

Upcoming ARBP Goals

With the new board in place, we next discussed some of the goals we hope to accomplish with ARBP in the near future, which included: RBGarage, Source Code Repository, Windows Functionality Suite, ARBP Web Site and Communication.

RBGarage

In the past, RBGarage has been a great source for Real Studio community information.  But over the years it has stagnated a bit and many of its links have become out of date.  Last year, ARBP took over the site, but not much has been done with it.  Bob Keeney has been working on rebuilding RBGarage using Real Studio Web Edition, which we hope to roll out this summer.

Source Code Repository

The ARBP source code repository is the most used part of the ARBP web site, but its organization and searchability has not been as good as we would like.  We are looking to rework this section of the site, again using Real Studio Web Edition.

Windows Functionality Suite

Originally maintained by Aaron Ballman, it has been mostly abandoned since he left the Real Studio community.  WFS has always been a great way to get access to Windows-specific features.  We would like to make sure that it continues to be maintained for compatibility with new versions of Real Studio and new features of Windows.

ARBP Web Site

The ARBP web site is built using the Joomla content management system.  For the most part it works quite well, but we are always looking to improve it.

Communication

To improve communication with ARBP members, we hope to start a monthly newsletter next month.

Help ARBP Grow

We want ARBP to continue to grow and be a useful part of the Real Studio community.  However, this will not be accomplished by the board alone.  We will also need your help.  If you are interested in helping ARBP in any of the areas listed above, please get in touch with Scott Boss, who will work as the volunteer coordinator, or myself.

Volunteering can be a great way to get Real Studio experience, learn from others, share your knowledge and become rich and famous.