Whenever we install a new server at work, we install the latest stable version of Perl, and tend to then stick with it. At the current server, introduced a few months ago, that's a 5.8.?; the previous server, of some several years ago, used 5.6.1. We tend to do extensive testing on the installed apps and scripts, and unless some very annoying bugs pop up, we don't feel the need to upgrade — ever.

At home, I have 2 PCs, an older Win98 desktop system, where I mostly use Indigoperl 5.6.1, though I have an ActivePerl 5.8.3 installed on it, too. On the newer XP laptop, I only have one installation of Perl: ActivePerl 5.8.4.

Again I tend to stick with them. It works, and I'm used to it. Though I still regularly use the destop PC, I don't plan on ever upgrading perl on it again. It's not worth it. That is, unless there's some killer module I desperately want, which doesn't work on my older version of Perl.

On the laptop, I plan to keep up with one of the latest releases of Perl — updates tend to come too frequent these days to follow it up for literally every single release. But I prefer it not to go stale for more than a few months.

If you ask me, perl 5.6.1 and 5.8.x are going to be around for a very long time. But, that's just my two cents.