Microsoft has just released Visual Studio 2010, along with its free (of charge) Express edition. Following a tradition, they are likely to withdraw support and availability for VS 2008 Express some time in the future.
Python 2.6, 2.7, and 3.1 are all built with that release (i.e. 2008). Because of another long tradition, Python extension modules must be built with the same compiler version (more specifically, CRT version) as Python itself. So to build extension modules for any of these releases, you need to have a copy of VS 2008 or VS 2008 Express. If you are planning to build Python extension modules in the next five years, I recommend that you obtain a copy of VS Express, just in case Microsoft removes it from their servers. As mentioned, it's free of charge. When downloading it for later use, it's probably best to get the offline ISO image release, available from http://www.microsoft.com/express/Downloads/#2008-All Disclaimer: I'm not connected with Microsoft or its release process. Any claim on future actions that Microsoft may take is purely hypothetical. Regards, Martin -- http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-list
