The idea of a PPM repository is somewhat novel, but ActiveState is certainly not responsible for it. ExtUtils::Installed and ExtUtils::MakeMaker are. All ActiveState came up with is an XML format to describe packages, prerequisites (PPD). The ppm distribution (module utility and related files) are very poorly managed and maintained (just look at the source http://downloads.activestate.com/PPM/PPM-3.00.56-src.tar.gz, no tests of any kind).