I am but an egg. But refactoring badly done projects that were started as PHP seems a plausibly common pattern. If Python or Ruby were simpler to start with,

I am but an egg. But refactoring badly done projects that were started as PHP seems a plausibly common pattern. If Python or Ruby were simpler to start with, there would be more badly done Python / Ruby code, but at least it would refactor in Python / Ruby. The core Py / Rb community probably wouldn't use simpler quick-and-dirty setups, they have the skills to the same things better and faster already. But making that pathway available would bring more novices to the language, hopefully growing them into Py / Rb. And it would bring more projects into the fold.