A word of caution to anybody that is thinking about hosting their sites on Yahoo Small Business Web Hosting they do not support PHP 5. A couple of years ago I was bummed to find out my account at Yahoo only supported PHP 4.3.11. Actually I believe it was late 2004!! Since then every now and then I’d install an app that required PHP 5 and found myself SOL. The years went by and it hasn’t bothered me too much until I move to WordPress. WordPress runs great on Yahoo Web Hosting but some of the newer WordPress plug-ins require PHP 5. Again SOL.
Well yesterday I downloaded Piwik, an open source alternative to Google Analytics, and had to install it locally on XAMPP (my goto win/php/apache/mysql platform). It installed easily and has enough functionality that I want to dive in a bit deeper. Unfortunately, it needs website traffic to really show it’s features off and my local install isn’t going to cut it. So, I tried to install it on my Yahoo site and received this massage that I hope somebody from Yahoo reads:
When I asked Yahoo support last week when I may expect support for PHP 5.x here’s what they said:
—– Forwarded Message —-
From: Yahoo! Web Hosting
To: Kevin
Sent: Thursday, January 22, 2009 4:38:34 AM
Subject: Re: Using PHP
Hello Kevin,
Thank you for contacting Yahoo! Small Business Support.
We’re sorry, but the feature you are mentioning is not currently
available through Yahoo! Web Hosting and we do not have an estimated
date as to when or if it will be available. However, we’ll pass your
comments on to our Development team for further consideration.
….
Please do not hesitate to reply if you need further assistance.
Regards,
Yahoo! Small Business Support
Well mid-April is my annual renewal date….or not.
Tags: google analtyics, Open Source, piwik, wordpress, XAMPP, yahoo small business web hosting
I too have been frustrated by Yahoo’s lack of support for PHP5. Let’s hope it comes soon. (And perhaps even support for PEAR?)
Here was my response today:
Hello Andrew,
Thank you for contacting Yahoo! Small Business Support.
I understand you are having trouble with php 4 and apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused you. Yahoo! web hosting is a shared web hosting and many people are sharing the web server.At this time Yahoo! Web Hosting has no plans to upgrade
to newer versions of our server software.Based on current user needs, we have found that the software that is available meets the needs of a majority of our users.Yahoo! Web Hosting continually evaluates the needs of users as well as security alerts and technology trends to determine when a software upgrade is required.
We thank you for your inquiry regarding upgrades to Yahoo! Web Hosting. We will forward your inquiry to our Web Hosting Suggestions department for further consideration.
Please do not hesitate to reply if you need further assistance.
Hi Kevin:
I’m being troubled by the same using some plugins for WordPress in Yahoo hosting. Looking at their response seems to me a lack of commitment to his customers, even if they trying to protect the general (and soon outdated) public. So, maybe I will start considering another hosting options.
Regards,
Mauricio.
i am having the same problem but not getting a reply
Any other reputed hosting which has updated php etc?
I did not get a reply either, and am thinking about jumping ship to another host, I’ve been with yahoo for 4 years, and they are way behind in technology and offering cutting edge software/hardware….
wake up Yahoo
I am frustrated by yahoo small hosting solutions, my web pages(.php) cant run on their server! Do i need to rename them to .html?
Same here, was extremely surprised to find that what I thought was a “cutting edge” internet company only supports a PHP version that’s almost 5 years out of date..
They should be consistent and force people to use Internet Explorer 6 and Netscape
We will most likely switch providers because of this.
[...] my PHP version being outdated as a usual suspect I searched found some clues but nothing [...]
I’ll admit that the PHP4 that Yahoo uses does what ‘most’ users need it to do. However a growing number of plugins and site apps are requiring PHP5.
Yahoo geared tehir service to the lowest common denominator since they provide unlimited bandwidth and storage. If they had implemented PHP5 then the number of people eating bandwidth on their dime would increase.
On the other hand I completely agree that for the growing number (apparently a minority of users, which i’m not inclined to believe) users requiring PHP5 yahoo does us and itself a disservice. Eventually people will jump ship and not sign up to use yahoo as a host.
I too have been completely amused by yahell web hosting.. my client uses it and now he’s been hacked. quick solutions? upgrade everything including PHP 4 whatever, I hate yahoo hosting very much and haven’t gotten any support responses either. I am recommending to my client that we go with another company that respects their clients privacy and ability to move where technology takes them. I’m so glad to have found this post.
I have also had the misfortune of trying new additions to Joomla and the same issues arises with PHP support. I contacted Yahoo and the response I receive stated that they were testing PHP5 and that they may look into deploying it in the future
Thats as good as saying we don’t care what you the customer wants. PHP4 is no longer supported and no longer receives updates for security so basically what Yahoo are saying is that they don’t care about the security of our data
An authoritative political message with little value. “we have found that the software that is available meets the needs of a majority of our users. Yahoo! Web Hosting continually evaluates the needs of users …”
People dont know what they don’t know, thus the above is a useless comment
Its leading and bleading-edge enthusiasts that push the boundaries. Why not make an intelligent evaluation of technology, not a wait for the masses to find out slowly what they currently do not know
I’d always assumed Yahoo were on PHP5. My websites on Yahoo were pretty basic and worked well, but maybe their basic nature is why I hadn’t noticed.
My latest project though was using PHP5 features (esp. classes and objects). What a bummer. I definitely have to find a new host pronto; the project is too far gone to ‘down’grade.
Can’t think of any reason they’ve not done this. Weird.
Over a year now and still no PHP5 support with Yahoo. Considering that PHP4′s lifecycle is over, time to ditch Yahoo hosting for good…
Also, Yahoo still runs outdated MySQL versions.
Something bizarre is going on at Yahoo that’s for sure.
What do people recommend as an alternative? I’m looking for an established, reliable provider that includes hosting and e-mail…basically Yahoo with all the latest technology.
Does such a provider exist?
I am sick of WordPress features not working because Yahoo does not support PHP5.
Thanks.
I too have had trouble with this. I have created and been maintaining 3 websites for about 5 years and am self taught. I have recently been really trying to expand my knowledge and take my sites to the next level and have found that Yahoo is definitely making it very difficult on me. I have never really been a fan of yahoo. It is slow and cumbersome even for just the mail. I have always wanted to switch but have been too nervous since my sites are technically working fine and I fear that if I try to move them I will run into problems that I do not know how to deal with. Does anyone have any suggestions on what company to switch too for hosting and any resources (step by step instructions) for info on moving a site.
Just logged on to Yahoo! Webhosting and now there is an option to switch to PHP5. Finally! (though I haven’t made the swtich yet)