I don't think PHP will die off for a long, long time. The low barrier to entry and ease of deployment means that beginners will be able to hack together solutions to their problems and even experienced programmers are able to use it for short and simple tasks.
The article makes a rather poor case for PHP being dead. It focuses on some syntax issues and doesn't touch on the strong business case for using PHP for many types of smaller projects.
If you're a small business that needs a couple of forms setup, say an order form and a contact form, PHP is a very reasonable choice. A small business that sells something online isn't making money by producing the most elegant possible code - they make money by setting something up to solve their problem, using cheap shared hosting they don't have to worry about setting up or maintaining, and focusing on selling their product. PHP is a great choice for that - and really that's what most small businesses actually need.
My suggestion would be to use the right tool for the job. For a simple small business website with a couple of forms, PHP might be the best choice. For a complex web application, Rails is a much better choice.
The article makes a rather poor case for PHP being dead. It focuses on some syntax issues and doesn't touch on the strong business case for using PHP for many types of smaller projects.
If you're a small business that needs a couple of forms setup, say an order form and a contact form, PHP is a very reasonable choice. A small business that sells something online isn't making money by producing the most elegant possible code - they make money by setting something up to solve their problem, using cheap shared hosting they don't have to worry about setting up or maintaining, and focusing on selling their product. PHP is a great choice for that - and really that's what most small businesses actually need.
My suggestion would be to use the right tool for the job. For a simple small business website with a couple of forms, PHP might be the best choice. For a complex web application, Rails is a much better choice.