I think your point can be summarized most plainly by saying PHP is cheap to host. I don't doubt that is a large part of its continuing popularity. But it is beg

I think your point can be summarized most plainly by saying PHP is cheap to host. I don't doubt that is a large part of its continuing popularity. But it is begging the question: Hosting providers didn't force PHP on the world, they met a demand. Where did that demand come from? I don't think its technical merits (such as they are), community, documentation, or appeal to hosting providers is to blame. I think the answer is rather simpler: PHP was the only language that tied itself to the "build a website" niche in both its implementation and its marketing. Sun's contemporary efforts with Java were scattered and, even in the web domain, more focused on applets. PHP had "build a website" written all over it. In short, I think it comes down to the old adage: location, location, location. PHP was perfectly positioned. The web boomed, and PHP rode its coattails. Anything with even the slimmest virtues could have succeeded with such good placement. In fact, it did.