In a continuation of a topic started a few days back, PHPEverywhere has another posting about PEAR versus the proposed PEAR2, as well as where the future of it might be heading.

In PEAR2: The interface is the framework, John shows his true opinions about PEAR and what it is/where it's going: Now that the cat is out of the bag about PEAR's problems, I will give my 2 cents worth. [...] The biggest problem IMHO with PEAR is the arbitrary way things are apparently run. Why is one class accepted, and another rejected? If it is because they do the same thing, then why are there so many classes that do the same thing in PEAR?

He goes on to talk about some suggestions he has for the next version (PEAR2), including a more strict "API policy" and innovation within that structure.

Lastly, I want to remind everyone that standardizing on a common API does not inhibit creativity, provided that the API is sensibly chosen. [...] In fact common APIs do encourage innovation within a shared framework (eg. the BSD forks go in different directions but share code).