Update 01-21-12: since I was contacted by the Author of one of these books, and a few years have gone by and I’m more familiar with the publishing industry, I was unfair to place blame on the author for the decision to market these books as PHP6. Authors have almost no say in how their books are marketed. Thus, the blame for these types of tactics, rest solely on the publisher.
On a side note, it is now 3 1/2 years later, and we’re only on PHP 5.3 with 5.4 coming out. Still no PHP 6 on the horizon.
The other day I was walking down an isle at Barnes & Nobel and I a two books caught my attention. PHP 6? Did I miss something? I opened each book looking for something that said “PHP 6 is still in development” or “future technology.” No such luck. They each just looked like PHP 5 books with PHP 6 slapped on their cover. Looking at PHP’s wikipedia page, I verified that PHP 6 doesn’t even have a release date.
After looking at what version 6 will do for PHP, I guess these authors can get away with it. PHP 6 is really just cleaning up some of the legacy problem The only reason I can see for labeling a book now as “PHP 6” is to sell copies to unknowledgeable consumers. People who think 6 is better than 5, which it is, but they don’t state PHP 6 hasn’t been released yet. I’m sure these “fast and easy” web development books are pretty basic and not very good. It just makes frustrated with some authors who sell books just to sell, instead of making really good books. I think this is very misleading.
Anyways, back to watching Heroes…..
Justin Carmony 
I can’t find “php 6 fast & easy web developemt” this book,please tell me
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Check out this links: http://search.barnesandnoble.com/Php-6-Fast-and-Easy-Web-Development/Matt-Telles/e/9781598634716/?itm=4
[WORDPRESS HASHCASH] The poster sent us ‘0 which is not a hashcash value.
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I just saw this post because it was linked to from a StackOverflow answer that I just happened to read. I wrote the original PHP & PHP5 F&E books in 2000 & 2004, respectively. Yes, geared toward beginners. No, didn’t suck (if you were a beginner). However, that PHP6 bullshit that you see, with (unfortunately for me) my name on it? Completely the publisher’s doing. I told them it was bogus and a lie, and stopped working with them before that book came out, because of it, giving up thousands of $$ in royalties I would’ve gleaned from the sale of their false advertising. So, it’s not always the authors’ doing, we’re not all in it for the money, and once the publishers have something from you, they own it. Anyway…
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@JM,
When I wrote this post, I didn’t know much about the publishing industry. Fast forward almost 4 years and I know a few writers for technical books, and I know you are completely correct. I 100% believe that it was the Publisher’s call, and not yours as the author. When it comes to decisions like this, I know you likely have very little to no control at all. I’ll update the post to reflect such.
Thanks for the comment!
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Hey, 2008 is like eleventy billion years in internet time. It’s all good. It was pure happenstace that I came by this at all, but figured if I did, someone else might. 🙂
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