

Why We’re Still Seeing PHP 5.3 in the Wild - Mojah
https://ma.ttias.be/why-were-still-seeing-php-5-3-in-the-wild-or-php-versions-a-history/?hn

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marina_shumaeva
I think that main problem of using old versions of php is the given ability to
install old versions on your server (hosting). For example on my server I can
choose between 5.2.17; 5.3.39 and 5.4.43. Of cause I have chosen the last
version, the newest. And as there was written in the article about Wordpress,
Drupal has the same problem. Drupal gives the ability for users to install CMS
on php version 5.2 or higher. If you are not advanced user (programmer) you
can easily make a mistake and configure your server with old php version. Then
you can have problems with incapability with modern modules or scripts.

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onion2k
I'm somewhat surprised these days when I see a company using a shared hosting
account. A t1.micro instance on AWS is trivial to set up and run Wordpress on,
and cheap, and _really fast_. But I know why it happens: agencies. Most
agencies will host your company site for you as part of the cost of getting
the site made. That hosting is likely to be in the region of $300 - $500/year
(compared to the $200/year for a big brochure site on AWS). The cost to the
agency of a server with WHM and CPanel is no more than about $20/year per site
- so shared hosting represents a vast amount of profit.

