Yahoo says it will start using PHP for scripting its web pages. It will deep-six its own proprietary web scripting language, called yScript. [CNET News.com]
PHP is a very good web scripting language.
But what about other proprietary scripting languages, like Cold Fusion. Isn't Macromedia supposed to make money selling large Cold Fusion licenses to big companies like Yahoo? Or do they just sell large licenses to financial institutions and other organizations that seem to commonly choose expensive proprietary solutions (for some inexplainable reason). I can't see why anyone would buy a license for Cold Fusion, when PHP is equally good, if not better, and free. This can't be good news for Macromedia. Eventually, there will be a time when even the financial institutions will stop paying for Cold Fusion.
There's a lesson to be learned. If you are in the software business, you must pay attention to Open Source software. Depending on the products you sell, it's possible that one day in the not-so-distant future, you will be unable to sell your products because of an Open Source alternative.
Posted by Doug Sauder at October 31, 2002 12:21 AM