[SpookyZalost]

what you are describing is what I like to call the Microsoft Effect.

Basically, be the default option because most users don't want a ton of setup, they want to just turn it on and have it work.

press play and go.

so if you are the default and everything ships with your product, then of course people are going to build themselves around you despite better alternatives showing up.

case in point, windows vs well any other Operating system, MS dos vs other versions of DOS and how it dominated the standards despite not being the oldest, it came on the most stuff by default and was the version of DOS that everyone was familiar with.

the same applies to PHP, it's the default, and systems make themselves around it because it's what people learn to start with and what they expect to work out of the box.