In a new post to the PHP 10.0 blog today, Stas asks the question "Why do we still have resource type in PHP?"

Since 5.x, objects are perfectly capable on encapsulating any void * transparently (there's at least 2 Java bridges doing that, for example) and of course using objects doesn't force you to use OO syntax. [...] So objects as I see it can do anything resources can do. And much more - you could extend it (had we had file as object and not resource, streams probably would be much easier to implement), serialize it (provided correct methods of course), etc., etc.

He suggests letting them go all together and letting objects swoop in and take over, making things simpler to manage.