Thank you.
21 years ago I uploaded some code to SourceForge and Freshmeat consisting of a frontend to a shopping cart website. The goal was to learn the PHP 3 / PHP 4 programming language, and with the help of others, build on the code to a workable solution for a complete online store solution.
Open Source made the sharing of knowledge possible, attracting people from opposite sides of the world driven by the same ambitions. The first wave of interest were from geeks — you had to be a computer nerd to have come across the new kid in town — most also starting to learn PHP, wanting to see working code in action.
Then came store owners. Actual normal human beings without any programming knowledge, seeking a solution to run their online businesses on — for free of course. Upfront costs were to be kept at an absolute minimum, something Open Source perfectly fit the bill for — all you had to do was get your own hands dirty.
This mish-mash of interest started the community. Complete strangers, who either lived in different continents or happened to walk by each other without either one knowing, working online together and contributing the expertise they were able to bring in. Some helped with actual coding, some helped with extensions and add-ons, some helped with documentation, some helped with bug reports, some helped with ideas, and some helped with ̶c̶o̶n̶s̶t̶r̶u̶c̶t̶i̶v̶e̶ expert criticism. Everyone planted their seeds and the community grew exponentially.
Those hardcore enough to have made an impact in the community were invited to join the inner circle — the team. Actually having weight and helping steer the direction the ship was sailing in. Achievement unlocked!
Communication is key. We started out with open email mailing lists for our discussions and jumped to web based discussion forums. A bridge between email mailing lists and the discussion forum was built— so either could continue to be used, and the geeks we were, a bridge to NNTP News Servers was also set up allowing whichever communications method was most comfortable with to be used, always being kept up to date with what was posted in the community, every medium completely in sync. That was some serious commitment that was rare to find anywhere else.
What formed in this craziness were friendships.
It was a delight seeing new members introduce themselves in the community on a daily basis. It was a delight seeing community members help each other and cheer as possible solutions led to something that worked. The bare notion of receiving a thank you drove the passion to help further. It was a delight having the chance to meet with community members in person at public meet-up events. It was a delight spending days together with team mates, hacking away at code in the same room, and chatting on the telephone on a daily basis like teenage school girls.
What a blast we all had. What a time to hear someone passing who we never physically met. As we all grew and bonded with time, it was inevitable to hear on someone passing who was present in the community. Some dedicated their full or free time to the community, others casually stopped by, whatever contribution was made, everyone left their footprint in the community. And that impact was dearly missed when learning that an online friend had passed. We all represented ourselves with an avatar profile and with words we wrote in a public forum. This was personal, not business. Everyone in the community following a similar path — everyone powered by emotion.
Some emotions and involvement were so strong that some detoured to lead their own efforts. Open Source is like a recipe — if you don’t like how it tastes, add your own ingredients and share that new improved recipe with the world. It was great seeing a hipper party opening a block away — giving choice to people for which club they’d find cooler to mingle in. Although the paths forked in different directions, we dominated e-commerce as a family.
As high as that mountain was climbed, the peak was never reached. Our code was not perfect, but it ran on any environment possible and was stable. Too stable. Store owners loved not needing to apply updates to their website on a regular cycle. And my strive to perfecting and modernizing the code which ultimately never left a development release, stranded us on the mountain as others trekked on. We left our mark without hype and million dollar investments — we can be damn proud of the blood sweat and tears we all poured in with what we achieved in a community effort.
21 years is a long time. The ship needs to sail in another direction. Fresh energy is needed. And it’s here, already in motion. Since the start of the year, Vadym Gurevych and his team at Holbi are working hard on a battle plan to march right up on that mountain. They have the man-power and expertise to do it, and have actually been a partner with us early on. I had the pleasure of personally meeting Vadym back in 2009 at a public community meet-up in London, and have absolute confidence in their abilities, goals, and hunger for success.
As there is a new captain on the ship, it’s my time to move on. I’ll be watching from the dock and may still jump in the community from time to time. I am sincerely grateful and wholeheartedly thank everyone for making it possible for me to work on my passion for so long. It brought me joy helping people out, being pushed in code development, learning new technologies, and being able to do that full-time. Thank you to everyone who has contributed to the community and effort, from forum postings, code, add-ons, bug reports, financial contributions — every little bit made a big impact. Thank you partners who not only financially supported the effort, but also allowed me to develop integrations to their services and play with features that were not publicly available at the time. Thank you team members, for your commitment, hard work, time, and patience against a stubborn mind.
Thank you also to the Community Editions effort — Gary Burton and the team at PhoenixCart. Be sure to check them out continuing the community effort in Open Source E-Commerce.
As for my future, I’m grateful to be able to continue doing what I love doing with e-commerce, at a more focused scale. Follow me on social media if you find that interesting 😎
Thank you ✌️
Love, Harald.
If you’d like to get in touch, or need help with something e-commerce related or not, message me publicly or privately at @haraldpdl on Twitter.
