This has already been mentioned elsewhere. There will be a service provider that can be used to use the Legacy layout

http://laravel.com/docs/master/upgrade#upgrade-5.0

That talks about upgrading, but you could add the same config into a new L5 project and have the same setup.

That is for existing apps. Not new installs. For new users they could install 4.2, then update to 5.0, but that is a little cumbersome. For newbies, because that is not official for new creation, they again may fear they are not doing something 'right'.

I heard this argument before when Laravel 4.0 was in development and composer was being introduced. There were big changes to the framework that made old L3 bundles obsolete. There were big changes that introduced the concept of composers autoloader. There were big changes to the frameworks structure.

What was feared would happen:

• Framework would lose momentum.
• Beginners wouldn't use it because they had to use composer and it was considered by some of them to be voodoo.
• Laravel 3 bundles wouldn't be updated to 4.0
• The changes to the structure would mean updating existing apps to 4.0 would be cumbersome

What actually happened:

• Framework increased momentum as the development team were innovating and pushing boundaries
• ALOT of beginners embraced 4.0 and asked a lot of questions on StackOverflow regarding good application design principles that were now being enforced with the new improved IoC and the use of PSR-x based packages.
• Laravel 3 bundles became obsolete as they were no longer required as Packagist held expansive libraries that could be used from frameworks such as Symfony. Those that weren't were converted by their authors wanting to keep up with the Laravel bandwagon.
• The structural changes made everyones applications cleaner and more intuitive.

You need to stop fearing change and embrace it. The Laravel development team have proven that they are very VERY capable of innovating. Laravel 4.0 made my life easier as a developer. Laravel 5.0 is proving to do exactly that all over again.

As a community, those that know the framework well will generally always help others that don't. Taylor, Jeffrey and Dayle may be re-working the slopes, buy I guarantee the tuition will be top notch and you'll be flying faster, higher and further in no time at all.