> It's hard, I think in part, because of the reputation PHP is > getting in > some circles. Many of the people evangelizing it don't know anything > else, and simply extoll all the 'wonderful' virtues of it.
YES! This "poisoning of the well" has happened and continues to happen. The problem is that being an evangelist is a wonderful thing-- but you have to be quite skilled at communication to be a successful one :) Otherwise the person attempting to spread the gospel simply becomes looked at as an annoyance or, worse, becomes marginalized. I have dealt with a lot of folks in companies who have a negative view of PHP, MySQL, Linux, BSD, etc. simply because they have had their intelligence insulted, or been irritated, or been completely confused, or been preached to one too many times by well-meaning proponents of Open Source solutions who are either unable to communicate or simply victim to their own enthusiasm. There is probably nothing that doesn't have an Open Source solution in the abstract sense-- but in the real world of existing systems, personnel, and politics, the best solution may not be technically the fastest or even the most stable. The right tool for the job is my motto, and that might mean SQL Server, it might mean MySQL. It might mean a Linux server, it might mean Win2K. There is no single panacea. c -- Chris Lott http://www.chrislott.org/ -- PHP General Mailing List (http://www.php.net/) To unsubscribe, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] For additional commands, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To contact the list administrators, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]