http://www.perlmonks.org?node_id=330871

While checking for the latest version of a shopping cart app that I use I came across a post regarding the next revision. They are taking a poll to see if it should be in Perl or PHP. I offer a snippet of their downside to using Perl. I don't mind them moving to PHP, I just want to be sure they aren't spreading falsehoods about our beloved Perl.
"The downside to Perl seems to be it's future more than anything else. Right now the Perl5 codebase has stopped being developed (at version 5.8.0) and Perl6 is in the works. Perl6 should be ready for production within the next couple of years and will be an awesome scripting language. The problem is that Perl5 code will not run on Perl6 without translation (a complete re-write of CCP in Perl6 code). Initially webserver support for Perl6 will be limited and some of the CPAN modules used by CCP will not be available immediately. Windows support may be lacking as well.

Another downside to Perl is it's *apparent* lack of market share when compared to PHP. When looking at resources sites two years ago, Perl scripts numbered around 3,000 and PHP scripts numbered around 400. Now most resources sites show around 3,500 Perl scripts and 5,000 PHP scripts. There are two factors at work here: (1) PHP currently is a much more actively developed language, and (2) The PHP scripts available are generally one-off works that do small specific tasks - there are exceptions in the forum category, whereas the Perl scripts available are robust programs. Perl is still the de-facto language for e-commerce on the Net.

The Perl6 re-write probably will cause migration problems in the future. This *apparent* lack of market share may be affecting the marketability of programs written in Perl like CCP.