It was what was taught by firstPerlers, which makes it a defacto standard. (I note here that this does not prevent it from being sad; it merely shows a valid reason why it might be seen as a standard by some).

If memory serves, one used to have to turn off strictures in order to not use global handles, a workaround for which was given in one of my earliest PerlMonks SoPW posts. It was there that I learned stricture control was lexically scoped. : -)

In the end, some folks will move forward with new features of a language and others will not; it is driven by needs and values.

For example, I still use the &subName(); form for calling non-object-oriented subroutines. There are many who do not appreciate that calling sequence, as it is archaic v4 syntax; but it adds a clarity for these old eyes, and barring a coding standard to the contrary, will continue -- sad or not -- in this corner of the world.

:-)