the phpBeans (similar to EJB's - Enterprise Java Beans), the phpBeans Object Server, and phpBeans Client API allow php objects to be encapsulated in such a way that they may invoke one another on remote machines and all that jazz.
what I find particularly puzzling is that Web Services enable the same kind of thing. you wrap up your php classes and expose them with WSDL's, and I use SOAP clients to invoke them from anywhere else in the world. but the use of a phpBean and phpBean Object Server takes that cool concept OFF of standardized protocols like SOAP, HTTP, etc and puts it into a client API.
but exposing your php classes/objects as web services means ANY program on ANY platform can use them. exposing your php classes by making them phpBeans and putting them on a phpBeans Object Server means only other php classes that use the phpBeans Client API can use them.
though both ActiveGrid and phpBeans are in their infancy (though they are more mature than lamp5!), I would like to see developers embrace the ActiveGrid approach more than the phpBeans approach. I think web services are being adopted by enterprises in place of approaches like J2EE and CORBA and other language-oriented integration methods.
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