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PHP Fog Raises $1.8 Million To Be The Heroku Of PHP

techcrunch.com

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Re: PHP Fog Raises $1.8 Million To Be The Heroku Of PHP

#21

Post by steveklabnik »

chanri wrote: post #16
steveklabnik wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

By now, you deploy Ruby applications in the same way you deploy PHP applications, for the most part. We've come a long way since a few years ago. An Apache + passenger setup looks basically the same as Apache + mod_php. Here's the secret sauce of Heroku: I know how to set up servers. I don't want to. Paying for convenience is always a good business model.

Just wondering, how much control do you have over configuration settings for Heroku? I imagine you could save a lot of money by optimizing apache/mysql rather than using the default configuration Heroku sets.

Basically none, and I like it that way. You know why?

> I imagine you could save a lot of money by optimizing apache/mysql rather than using the default configuration Heroku sets.

I really doubt this, that's why. Their entire life is making reliable systems for applications. Mine isn't. They know waaaaay more about this than I do.

Re: PHP Fog Raises $1.8 Million To Be The Heroku Of PHP

#22

Post by loganlinn »

chanrises wrote: post #11
tmcw wrote: post #8

Don't really get this one. First off, PHP doesn't have the deploy/run process of Sinatra/Ruby/Node/etc. Second, 1.8 mil isn't much money; that's probably the amount you could bootstrap with some past success. And the business-plan-like graphic doesn't reveal that there's anything interesting in their tech approach than any commodity hosting.

I am also confused. What are the benefits of phpfog if it normally only takes 15 min to create a linux server with php/mysql on amazon ec2? The only things I could see different are db slave replication and http caching, but generally those you don't worry till much later, and are not critical.

From http://www.phpfog.com/pricing: "We will provide simple one-click installations of some of the most popular PHP applications out there."

I'd say that taking a 'Heroku clone' approach might work against them.

Their biggest feature may be the ability to easily install and deploy pre-existing PHP products like Joomla, Drupal, vBulletin, etc.

People that use these commercial PHP projects are likely to appreciate such a service for many reasons. In a way, they are capturing a lot of the value that cPanel offers.

Re: PHP Fog Raises $1.8 Million To Be The Heroku Of PHP

#23

Post by robryan »

gexla wrote: post #9
aresant wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You do realize that "The Heroku Of PHP" is not a line from PHPFog right? It's how TechCrunch is explaining what the site is. http://www.phpfog.com/

Actually, it's right on their pricing page. Maybe they didn't think of the line themselves, but it's on their site and not as a quote. PHP Fog is like Heroku for PHP. But better. We will provide simple one-click installations of some of the most popular PHP applications out there. ETA: However, I do agree that "like Heroku for PHP" is a big difference from "is Heroku for PHP." My mistake.

It's a good way of explaining it to people as many more have heard of Heroku. It's not like their directly competing so I can't see a negative side.

Re: PHP Fog Raises $1.8 Million To Be The Heroku Of PHP

#25

Post by noodle »

tmcw wrote: post #8

Don't really get this one. First off, PHP doesn't have the deploy/run process of Sinatra/Ruby/Node/etc. Second, 1.8 mil isn't much money; that's probably the amount you could bootstrap with some past success. And the business-plan-like graphic doesn't reveal that there's anything interesting in their tech approach than any commodity hosting.

i like the idea but i dislike the execution of it (so far, having tried it).

it isn't as complex to deal with a php app, but it can be stressful to play server admin on an app that gets to be popular. simply not having to worry about setting up a server, optimizing it, scaling it, backing it up, etc. is just nice.

Re: PHP Fog Raises $1.8 Million To Be The Heroku Of PHP

#28

Post by StavrosK »

gexla wrote: post #5
aresant wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Tired or not it's not a bad way to make value proposition clear and in hindsight is pretty handy: - "Youtube is the flickr of Video" - http://slashdot.org/articles/05/08/14/1320217.shtml - "AdMob is the doubleclick of mobile" http://www.businessweek.com/the_thread/techbeat/archives/200... etc

Sure, but wouldn't it be better if you could make that proposition from your own presentation without having to refer to other services? If PHPFog is the Heroku of PHP, then what was Heroku the Heroku of? ;)

It's the equivalent of defining a term. You could offer a synonym, or you could circumlocute.

Re: PHP Fog Raises $1.8 Million To Be The Heroku Of PHP

#29

Post by netcan »

gexla wrote: post #5
aresant wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Tired or not it's not a bad way to make value proposition clear and in hindsight is pretty handy: - "Youtube is the flickr of Video" - http://slashdot.org/articles/05/08/14/1320217.shtml - "AdMob is the doubleclick of mobile" http://www.businessweek.com/the_thread/techbeat/archives/200... etc

Sure, but wouldn't it be better if you could make that proposition from your own presentation without having to refer to other services? If PHPFog is the Heroku of PHP, then what was Heroku the Heroku of? ;)

Analogies carry a lot of meaning, often subtle and hard to get across in a paragraph, let alone a line.

Who else would you explain it? PHP cloud hosting?

Peoples understanding of a thing is not always very high res. Take 'evolution by natural selection'. Some people understand the mechanics, consequences and how A leads to B quite well, some don't. People assciate all sorts of things outside of the mechanics with it: 'aha moment,' 'prototypical scientific theory,' 'gradual process,' 'controversy,' 'cornerstone theory,' etc. etc.

You can get at this fuzzy nebulae of meanings and associations via analogies: "Darwin of climate science," "Natural Selection of Geology," "Intelligent Design of Feminism."

A lot of people don't know exactly what Heroku is, they know it's getting a lot of buzz, have heard the praise, have heard customers staunchly defending the prices, etc. They might be inclined to check out a Heroku (or for example, app engine) for their language.

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