cURL has it's problems - one of them being a different kind of hateful API, another being the fact that you still need to actually configure it properly, which means you have to be approximately competent.

A major element of the 5.6 changes (documented in an article not yet written, but should be by early next week) is to protect Jimmy the junior dev from himself - chances are that an inexperienced dev, given the choice between a one-liner and several lines with a bunch of scary-looking options, is going to pick the former. I'm not advocating it, just stating it.