Official Ray Announcement
Dear faithful and longtime customers of WebAssist,
It is with deep sadness that we must communicate the passing of Mr. Ray Borduin on October 20th, 2023. He passed peacefully at his home, surrounded by family and friends. Ray is survived by his two children and his faithful partner, Trishia. Thank you for all you did to make his last days as comfortable and full of love as they could be.
Ray had been a driving force since the inception of this company in the late 1990s and committed his life to delivering quality software that brought complex web functionality to users without code-writing history through effective user experience measures. We that lived and worked with Ray knew him for his passion, giving nature, friendly approach, quality conversation, love of animals, care for others, and brilliant mind. He will be sorely missed.
While we know that the last few weeks have been hard on many of you in not knowing what the future will hold, we very much appreciate the time to have processed this event and begin to make plans for the future. Thank you for your patience as we continue to work through this major change. At this time, it would not be pertinent to divulge any of our unsolidified conversations beyond stating that we understand the gravity of this situation and what it means to your businesses and the future of this company he worked so hard to build and maintain.
We would like to recognize Justin Hood, Dave Hoffman, and Danilo Celic for providing technical support during Ray’s fight. We would also like to give our warmest and ongoing thanks to Patrice Olivier-Wilson for keeping the boards clean and administering them. We also want to recognize all of you faithful WebAssist customers. We very much appreciate your ongoing dedication and trust and will emerge with a new direction in due time.
For now, though, let us take a moment to think of Ray and what good his life and effort brought to each of us. Rest easy, Ray. Thank you for all you did for all of us.
- The WebAssist Team
Future Plans
The future of WebAssist and the code we maintain is of utmost concern to many of you. We recognize this and want to be as transparent as possible as we move forward from the active support of the PHP codebase that Ray maintained for so many years. The hard truth is that there is no ideal path forward for the code as it is. Per Ray’s wishes, we will be making all extensions and pre-built solutions free to everyone. We ask that you consider a donation when you download them. Existing CafeCommerce hosting will continue uninterrupted, but new store registrations and trials will no longer be offered.
While we will continue to maintain our hosting services and provide what support we can to our longtime customers, the next few years will be a time of transition for this company. The future and longevity of our PHP code is already reaching version limits that will require updates. We will do everything in our power to assist as options for your individual integrations are considered.
We have partnered with Patrice Olivier-Wilson for the last many months and thank her for her ongoing support. She has offered to create a directory of subject matter experts for hire that can be engaged for ongoing support of the PHP codebase. This resource will be linked to in the forums. We owe her an enormous debt of thanks for her dedication and stalwart determination. You are truly a gem, Patrice.
We very much thank you all for your many years of dedication that made our dreams a reality. As time moves forward and new directions emerge, we will continue to keep you updated. From our start in Ray, Eric, and Matt’s garage, through the many highs and lows, to today’s announcement, we cannot express how grateful we are for the contributions from and support of so many.
Thank you,
- The WebAssist Team
