How soon do you think everyone will convert from PHP 5.2 to PHP 5.3 so it will be hard to find a shared server with PHP 5.3. So far I can see companies are offering both - PHP 5.3 and PHP 5.2.
I work at a company that has a lot of servers. Some are really old servers using 5.1, newer servers using 5.3 and a couple of 5.2 servers... I hate it lol. Its a nightmare. Given its not really their fault. Me and bunch of IT people were brought in to insource the company, so we weren't the ones who set all of the servers up just here to maintain them. Its not easy though. For example 5.1 doesn't have a json_decode/encode function. So you end up writing the same functionality just different ways. :/ lol
WOW ... I'm sure the people making the decisions have no idea as usual, I'm sure they understand the word museum and it's implications: http://museum.php.net/php5/ ... that's where you download sources for php5.1/5.2, the only place you can download them from officially. For their own good they should allow you the time to upgrade, they are putting their investment at risk by not allowing you that time. Force them too. Shared hosting never used to be that far behind, I'm surprised to hear you cannot find a host with a supported version of PHP installed. Feel free to send your hosting company a link to this post, the same goes for them, 5.2 is outdated, simple as that, they should not be using it on their servers that they charge people access for. Some of 5.3 is in the museum too, where it belongs ...