A lower barrier to entry often means that a low standard of quality should be expected of a lot of entries :). But I can't argue that it's an easy choice for someone who wants to get started writing web applications in their garage -- $8 shared hosting is great if you're at that end of the spectrum.

PHP works fine for many people and, hey, if it works for you by all means stick with it. We should all work with the tools we're most comfortable with.

http://www.coboloncogs.org/COGS.HTM