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This is cool, useful, and good news but there's a "but" coming. There are far better options for PHP hosting than Heroku. Other technologies like Ruby, Node, an

This is cool, useful, and good news but there's a "but" coming. There are far better options for PHP hosting than Heroku. Other technologies like Ruby, Node, and Java require what less technical developers would consider "extra" work and consideration. What I mean by that is that you can't just plop your Rails or node or Django or Java app on a server, visit it in a browser, and have it run. But PHP is different. Most PHP applications save for some very complex ones only need PHP installed then developing and running them is honestly as simple as creating static HTML pages. So with that said, why use Heroku when you can use AppFog FortRabbit or, dare I say, shared hosting for cheaper and with the same amount of convenience? Don't get me wrong, the fact that they're supporting these stacks for PHP is cool and I'm one of the minority that doesn't think PHP is going anywhere soon. I'm sure it's a pretty great learning experience for some people to deploy their PHP app on a service like Heroku - there's no doubt about the value in that. I just wonder "why support PHP on Heroku"? I mean, if Heroku one day made it impossible to run PHP apps I don't think many would miss it and may make things easier on the Heroku guys. There's no shortage of platforms that support PHP out there.

obviouslygreen 14y ago
I'd imagine they believe the same thing you (and I) do: Opinions about it aside, PHP isn't going anywhere. If nothing else, perhaps the target audience is Heroku users who are for whatever reason using PHP instead of their usual tech for a project. Or they're looking to edge into the FortRabbit market and just haven't gotten there with the offering yet... I'd think there are plenty of angles to work. I'm also not sure about "PHP isn't going anywhere" being a minority opinion. Even people who disparage it usually understand that its ubiquity, ease of deployment, low learning curve, etc. mean it's unlikely to leave us alone any time soon, if ever.
ridruejo 14y ago
Agreed Heroku is not necessarily the ultimate PHP platform :) We plan on bundling support for other third-party platforms, in particular dotCloud and Beanstalk as well as add support for our Java, NodeJS, Django, etc. stacks. We want to provide the best experience hosting locally (that's why we launched MAMP in the app store as well https://itunes.apple.com/app/mamp-stack/id571310406 https://itunes.apple.com/app/mamp-stack/id571310406) and then allow people to deploy to their favorite host.

obviouslygreen 14y ago

I'd imagine they believe the same thing you (and I) do: Opinions about it aside, PHP isn't going anywhere. If nothing else, perhaps the target audience is Heroku users who are for whatever reason using PHP instead of their usual tech for a project. Or they're looking to edge into the FortRabbit market and just haven't gotten there with the offering yet... I'd think there are plenty of angles to work. I'm also not sure about "PHP isn't going anywhere" being a minority opinion. Even people who disparage it usually understand that its ubiquity, ease of deployment, low learning curve, etc. mean it's unlikely to leave us alone any time soon, if ever.

ridruejo 14y ago

Agreed Heroku is not necessarily the ultimate PHP platform :) We plan on bundling support for other third-party platforms, in particular dotCloud and Beanstalk as well as add support for our Java, NodeJS, Django, etc. stacks. We want to provide the best experience hosting locally (that's why we launched MAMP in the app store as well https://itunes.apple.com/app/mamp-stack/id571310406 https://itunes.apple.com/app/mamp-stack/id571310406) and then allow people to deploy to their favorite host.