Application Server or no? re: Bad rep?

I script in php which is the "glue" to my server/database/ssl/gd/sendmail 
system services

...

Am I mistaken to represent 
php as an application server... environment?

as per the recent Rasmus threads here.

As I happily code away for a handfull of satisfied clients on my 
php app server ( to the clients that don't care how I do what I do ) , the 
rest the small consulting company I work for still struggles to get 
Oracle 9ias to simply start.

love php... silly I know