Jorgen Grahn wrote: > But any Unix today will come with a reasonable Python installation; I don't > see that > as an important part of the choice.
Yes, the days of Red Hat only shipping Python 1.5.2 are long gone. But I don't fully agree with your conclusion, because the Python installation is one small piece of developing and using Python solutions, and having ready-made packages for some larger frameworks and toolkits seriously reduces the effort required to start using them, whilst increasing the exposure of those frameworks and toolkits. For example, one thing I'd really like to see is the more widespread adoption of PyKDE, since it would encourage more people to develop KDE applications in Python, as opposed to lower-level languages, and thus open the door to a larger number of good, reliable applications in that environment. Unfortunately, many distributions still seem to subject their users to the sometimes tricky process of an installation from source that could put many people off - people who would otherwise just pick up that toolkit. If such talk of KDE makes your eyes glaze over, consider another example: wxWidgets plus wxPython. Back in its days as wxWindows - in a just world that would arguably still be its real name ;-) - the tower of technologies (Gtk+, wxGtk, wxPython) seemed to involve razor edge management of dependencies that frequently ended in compilation errors. People may regard package management outside the strictest realm of Pythondom as uninteresting (did the Python Eggs people ever speak to the guy who develops the Smart Package Manager, for example?), but such factors are critical to the convenience of Python users and for Python's wider success. Paul -- http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-list
