You could dedicate your life to improving package management in PHP and still never approach the quality of even RubyGems, let alone CPAN. Inertia is just too much to fight against when you have a massively popular language with an ad-hoc design that has accreted over a decade.
More power to anyone with a vision and a goal, but I'll personally leave PHP to its strength as batteries-included templating language.
We aren't in a competition against Gems or CPAN, in what world does that suggestion even make sense?
People use PHP and a package manager is needed to stop people constantly rewriting the same PHP. That means a package manager is required (we have a good one now) and support is required to take it forward (hence this post).
When will people stop the "RUBY DID IT" mentality and learn to get on with what needs to be done?
1. Build stuff.
2. Sell stuff.
3. Learn to make stuff faster.
More power to anyone with a vision and a goal, but I'll personally leave PHP to its strength as batteries-included templating language.