The Cutting Edge - New Toys to play with? Or merely ways to break things?

This server, for example, is my personal server. If I want to install the latest version of $technology or $language I can do so safe in the knowledge that the only person who will be affected is me. When you offer hosting services to the public you do not have that kind of freedom. The reality is that hosting companies have to be quite conservative in some areas. If the software is not stable then it is not usable. For example, a couple of years ago PHP changed a number of things between versions in relation to register_globals. They may not have been huge differences, but many scripts ceased functioning as a result. At present there are a number of "hot" technologies that developers seem to be interested in trying out:

• php5
• MySQL 5
• Ruby on Rails
• ASP.net 2

Php5 is more or less stable from what I can gather, but a lot of popular applications still won't work with it. (OSCommerce is a prime example - though it can be "persuaded") MySQL 5 is RC only ie. they've got it to a semi-usable state, so you can play with it at your own risk Ruby on Rails sounds like it could be the "next big thing", but whether it is stable enough for "mass" consumption is another matter. I won't even get into the ASP.net thing :) VPS / UML technology, however, does offer people a way of running their applications, testing bleeding edge technologies and costs less than dedicated servers. The possible downside to the UML / VPS hosting is that it isn't really aimed at the non-technical users.