Zend was acquired by Rogue Wave

Details here.

What do you think about this acquisition? Anyone fearing for PHP’s future? While any acquisition of an open source contributor offers a chance to bring some fresh blood into the contribution process, some such acquisitions have gone horribly, horribly wrong (see Oracle and MySQL, basically).

I say we should stay optimistic, though cautiously so. If all else fails, there’s always Facebook with Hacklang :slight_smile:

lol, that’s the first thought that came to mind as soon as I read the topic title.

I’m exposing my ignorance, but I’m unclear how closely tied Zend and PHP are.

That is, I know PHP has influence on Zend, but how much influence does Zend have on PHP?

And how are we sure Hacklang won’t be abandoned by Facebook in a few years time?

Were you being serious? :neutral_face:

I have mixed feelings about the takeover. I too am not sure what exact influences Zend has or had on PHP’s development. In the end, Zend made their money not directly with PHP, but rather with services and software based on PHP. So, that is what Roque Wave is getting. They aren’t getting PHP directly.

This is also just a pet peeve, but what I despise from any company is a lack transparency. No pricing information for any RogueWave products. That is simply a no-go for me.

Edit: And, when I see their customer forum… oh my. :fearful: I guess I could say, at least they have one.

Scott

Here’s more discussion on the topic.

Nope, notice the smiley

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Oracle/MySQL isn’t really an analogy. Oracle owns MySQL; Zend doesn’t own PHP. But what about the Zend engine? Is that 100% open source, no strings attached?

From the Zend site:

“Zend is committed to continuing its investments in the PHP community by both contributing directly to the core technologies and by help maintain and grow the vibrant ecosystem PHP enjoys today.”

Will Rogue Wave take the same position? If not, could another entity take over the engine?

I’ve been in the enterprise space for many decades, and I’ve seen quite a few aggregators acquiring ERP companies. The rationale is usually to acquire an existing customer base and its income stream (generally stable or slowly declining), and to squeeze costs in the acquired businesses by sharing management, IP, resources and skills. These are both legitimate and worthwhile business objectives (although employees may not see it that way). The aggregator usually benefits the group’s customers by extending the support and useful life of the mature products they are using, and in some cases the acquired companies would not have survived on their own, so the aggregator also preserves the jobs of at least some of the staff.

It looks to me like Rogue Wave is an aggregator aiming to specialise in the open source space, and they’re not alone in that. Zend has played a crucial part in the development and growth of PHP, particularly in making it credible in the enterprise space. Zend is still one of the leading innovators in the PHP community. Andi Gutmans and Zeev Suraski are Zend’s most important assets. So I cannot see how it would be in Rogue Wave’s interests to interfere with Zend’s technical direction, or to damage their management structure. On balance, I’m pleased that Zend has some additional financial and organisational backing behind it.

As for how Zend fares under Rogue Wave’s wing, the key factor is the fit between Rogue Wave’s and Zend’s corporate cultures. I would expect that angle has been worked out as part of the acquisition negotiations. But time will tell.

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