Re: PHP on .NET DLR

 Hi,

 Thanks for chipping in. Silverlight is not a fad, because it is simply an outgrowth of a platform that is 10 year old--the .NET. Technology wise, it is merely java applets in XAML format. But it provides people already working on .NET an easy way to create the gui. Silverlight's most important feature is that it is based on MS's greatest strength--the Desktop.


On Fri, Aug 10, 2007 at 07:59:23AM -0700, Rasmus Lerdorf wrote:
> PHP has historically never chased fads.  We wait and see which platforms
> win, and we end up on those simply because we need PHP on those
> platforms.  When/if Silverlight becomes a viable platform for real
> large-scale deployment, PHP will be on it.

 Please note that what we need is PHP on .NET, and .NET is a 10 year old platform. Silverlight is merely the reason that makes it an absolute necessity. .NET is a thriving environment, despite MS's initial blunders--lack of dynamic languages, and the inability to replicate the desktop paradigm on web.

 But it is more, silverlight is the end result of the 25 year MS hegemony on the desktop. And That's something that's undeniable. Silverlight finally brings the whole MS desktop experience into web, and this is something you cannot ignore, considering how pathetically Unix/Linux fares in the desktop.  If silverlight was something really nascent, I would advice a wait and watch strategy, but this is merely the addon to something that millions already use productively, that finally allows them to take web to the next level. And if phalanger didn't exist, my request could be deemed unreasonable.

 Recapitulating:

 a) We have a 10 year old platform the .NET, which while not optimal presently, is still being used by a large number of developers.

 b) Now, MS has finally given them something that can leverage MS's 25 year Desktop experience. 

 c) PHP can _trivially_ take advantage of both of them--all that's needed is to have the community show interest in phalanger, and not let it die. Also, the DLR makes porting Dynamic languages very trivial. IT only took MS a couple of months to get Ruby on DLR.

 d) Ruby--now with silverlight--has everything that PHP has--cross platform, dynamic, web ready, and now it has become even more compelling, because of PHP community's hostility towards the DLR.

 e) There are a 1000 other benefits to getting PHP on dotnet. One is that many VB folks who are used to the procedural style of the old VB6, would start loving PHP and will move to it, considering how complex and different VB.net is from VB6.

 PHP on .NET has a 1000 reasons. Phalanger is already there. Why are you letting it die?

 Thanks again for your input.