Explore a case study on incrementing a major version of a programming language, focusing on PHP's transition from version 5 to 7. Learn about the challenges and strategies employed by the PHP team to balance backward compatibility with new features, and compare their approach to other languages. Discover how the team encouraged adoption through incentives and managed potential breaking changes. Examine the impact on existing codebases, migration strategies, and the role of automated tools in the transition process. Gain insights into the decision-making process behind major version updates and the lessons learned from PHP's successful upgrade, which achieved significant adoption rates within two years of release.