Some people have tried forking PHP, and the general response is mediocre at best. The big thing PHP has going for it is the huge amount of open source software

Some people have tried forking PHP, and the general response is mediocre at best. The big thing PHP has going for it is the huge amount of open source software, and the number of webhosts which support PHP by default. Most of the webhosts can barely keep PHP updated, and the ones who don't, justify it by wanting to avoid breaking backward compatibility with open source software. Getting widespread adoption for a PHP alternative would be a serious feat.