"The platforms that win on the web are those that mirror its fundamental structure, not those that try to morph it into a more traditional "elegant" shape."
This reminds me of why C succeeded, because it mirrors Unix so well, that C and Unix succeeded hand in hand. So this part about PHP mirroring the shape of the web made the most sense to me, as someone who doesn't know any PHP.
jimbokun's point was that C and Unix succeeded as a pair, which I agree with. C allowed Unix to be a portable OS, and the proliferation of Unix meant that everyone who did systems work learned C.
This reminds me of why C succeeded, because it mirrors Unix so well, that C and Unix succeeded hand in hand. So this part about PHP mirroring the shape of the web made the most sense to me, as someone who doesn't know any PHP.