I Still Don't Get PSGI/Plack

Ok, I've attended Perl Mongers meetings about Plack. I've attended Miyagawa's OSCON talk about it. I've read about middleware and backend-agnostic goodness, and even read a blog post titled "I finally get PSGI and Plack!"

I still don't get it.

I mean, I understand that if you're a web framework developer, it's the coolest thing since sliced bread. Or sliciest thing. Whatever. It allows you to target one backend (PSGI) instead of a dozen (CGI, FastCGI, mod_perl and friends). But for me, someone who writes web applications using Catalyst for a job, I don't see the benefit. Catalyst already targets different backends, and in particular FastCGI, which we use at work. So switching to a Plack-based architecture doesn't help us there.

I've seen and tried Starman, and it is FAST! Other servers like Twiggy would allow me to write web applications that interact with AnyEvent. But right now, our FastCGI environment is fast enough, and I don't currently have a need for fancy features like AnyEvent interaction. So I don't see the need to give my sys admin a headache for extra speed that we don't need or to access features I wouldn't use.

Now I hear you say "But Rob, Plack has Middleware!" And it does! And it's cool! But all of the useful middleware I've found has a Catalyst plugin counterpart, so again, why make the switch?

My understanding of Plack is that it would help me to write a web application framework, but – other than middleware – it doesn't affect me much as a web application developer. Am I totally wrong here?

-Rob