PHP4 is now 7 years old and PHP5 is actually 3 years old. However, despite the fact that PHP5 has been around that long, PHP4 is holding on tightly, particularly on typical cheap shared hosting. Unfortunately, the very reason that PHP has had much of its success in adoption is causing this problem. Lots of people use PHP because you can get a $5/month hosting account and PHP will be installed and you can get up and running quickly.

However, users of those hosting services aren’t really in a position to do the upgrade themselves. Even some of those who are renting dedicated servers are stuck due to those wonderful custom setups that control panels like cPanel use.

The GoPHP5 is pushing to get PHP5 adopted in those critical spots. They’ve got a bunch of applications and hosts that are all planning on going PHP5-only in February. Check to see if your favorite application or your hosting company is on the list.