Andi Gutmans has some great news for Ubuntu users - the Zend Framework will be included in a future version of the linux distribution (Hardy Heron, Ubntu 8).

We are very proud to be an integral part of the Ubuntu distribution going forward. This is an important step towards making Zend Framework accessible to a broader audience and by working closely with the MOTUs we are able to ensure a positive end-user experience.

Andi also points out some of the stats from the framework's life so far: 4M downloads of Zend Framework, 500K of them unique and only growing stronger.

Zend has issued a press release today announcing their split from the PHP group in order to pursue their own branch of the popular web development language.

Andi Gutmans, Co-founder and Vice President of Zend, is quoted as saying: It's about time we finally made the move. All of those people whining constantly about 'PHP is broken here - make it better' and 'Why can't you fix my favorite function so it works better?' Frankly, we at Zend are tired of it, and we're not gonna take it anymore.

Neither Zeev Suraski or Marc Andreessen could be reached for comment on this branch, but sources say that the entire company is behind this move. Branching off to create their own "Zend PHP" allows them to integrate their recently released (preview version) of Framework more closely and give it the power it needs to surpass the original PHP distribution.