Sotaro Karasawa introduces openpear, an open source PHP package repository. Openpear allows anyone to easily contribute and release PHP packages through a web-based Subversion interface. It aims to address issues with the existing PEAR repository such as outdated packages and a complex release process. New features planned for openpear include improved documentation, tagging of packages, and bug tracking. The goal is for openpear to become a major infrastructure for PHP developers worldwide.