Business Case for PHP
I recall several years ago a discussion on #phpc on Freenode IRC about the need for white papers on the use of PHP in the enterprise/business world. These white papers would serve as a sort of advocacy for PHP, but more important than advocating the use of PHP, they would help answer questions about PHP that management types have. The white papers would discuss the benefits of using PHP, highlighting its strengths and even noting its limitations. In short, it would answer the question: why is PHP suited (or not suited) for the task we need to complete? I was particularly interested in these white papers for Atlanta PHP to use and distribute to the local business community.
Well, three years have passed, and I don’t believe anyone has ever published any white papers on PHP, giving it a business case, and while we have companies like Zend, OmniTI, and eZ Systems providing support for PHP, I haven’t seen any documentation from them like this. So, last Thursday when Stuart Herbert announced his Google Group for developing a business case for PHP, I took notice and joined.
While I know that this group isn’t trying to advocate the use of PHP over other languages, I hope that it can generate white papers that will explain the benefits/advantages of PHP and why it is well-suited for particular tasks. Also, I think these white papers would do well to outline how PHP can work alongside other languages like Java, and how PHP has excellent support for XML and SOAP, making it a good choice to communicate with legacy/disparate systems.
I encourage those companies who use PHP and have an investment in the language to take part in this effort.
6 Comments
Zend.com has several case studies (not very easy to find though), focusing on how enterprises have been using PHP to drive their business.
Thanks, Oliver, for pointing out the case studies. However, I'm not talking about case studies, which focus on the use of PHP in a particular project or organization. These are helpful for making the business case for PHP, but they're too specific. I'm talking about more of a general white paper (or papers) on PHP that discusses it in general terms.
Ben, I don't think that companies will be interested into making such papers, but this could be done by the community with their participation. Maybe a call to active php groups worldwide to participate also.
The AFUP (french association of PHP users) published a white book which is now in its fourth version. It is in french and has not been translated into english so far.
There may be other paper in non-english languages for all we know :)
So, yesterday after reading your post, “Business Case for PHP†I decided to join Stuart Herbert’s Google Group for developing a business case for PHP.
I am excited to see; what we can come with for the PHP community.
The French White paper has been translated to English, thanks to PHP Québec. It has also been presented in conferences, several times.
Here is the (well hidden) link.
http://www.phpquebec.org/mo...
OR
http://www.phpquebec.org/mo...
Look for 'PHP White Paper' in the middle.