I think something more like this [1]* built in server proposal would be nicer, with less dependencies.

Yes, people always bitch about how easy it is to just set up Apache, but they fail to realize the departmentalization of apps is great for development. Currently in my dev environment I have a virtual host for every app/site/lib. It is rare that most PHP devs even do that. Far too often they just do FTP straight to the production server. This would curtail that.

  $ cd your/app
  $ php -s

That said, I think the recent trend of lightweight servers for PHP is awesome. I think any additions to PHP that introduce real professional practices to the PHP community is a great thing. In the past few years we have seen the wider adoption of Unit tests, better frameworks, and somewhat better packaging.

PHP devs always complain about how people rag on PHP, but it's because the professional programmers that actually know what they are doing don't spread their knowledge to amateur programmers - which leads to more crappy PHP code. Just like any other language embracing and evangelizing good standards will better the community as a whole.

[1] http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2281724 (source link is down at the moment)