IBM developer works is my favorite website for Java/J2EE daily reading. The website contains good technical articles for Java developers covering wide range of topics such as Java, J2EE, database, SOA and more..

I’ve been noticing that PHP is making it’s way to developerWorks website…

Would IBM consider PHP as Java replacement?

There are rumors that some VPs at IBM think that Java is too complicated and there is a need to be replaced by a simpler language such as PHP..
I personally don’t think these rumors are true because PHP can’t replace Java in IBM products since IBM supports a lot of legacy applications where Java is more suited for integrating heterogeneous systems than PHP.

In addition, IBM considers WebSphere products and SOA tools as their most profitable projects and they are entirely written in Java.

How could IBM use PHP?

As IBM tries to take a bigger share in the small business market which is mostly claimed by Microsoft they are focusing more on offering open source software such as WebSphere Application Server Community Edditon which is built on Apache Geronimo and Cloudscape which is built on Apache Derby

Giving free software to small businesses certainly help but that’s only part of the problem. The biggest problem of using Java in small environment is overcoming Java complexity. Java is very complicated compared to newer languages such as PHP and Ruby on Rails. I am not trying to make a point on which one is better in general but it’s no brainer that PHP is much cheaper to implement than Java specially for small web application.

IBM has already noticed the popularity of PHP among open source programmers. It would be very wise if IBM finds a place for PHP in their small business products domain. IBM is already talking about offering Wikis for the enterprise so why not use PHP especially that the most popular Wiki is built with PHP..

As for me I’ve chosen Java and Ruby on Rails as my favorite languages … sorry PHP :)