Version incomptabilities, code changes, __future__, etc

[Steve Holden]

<mcc at TO.GD-ES.COM> wrote in message
news:mailman.994953982.6684.python-list at python.org...
>
> On Thu, 12 Jul 2001 mcherm at destiny.com wrote:
>
> > simonb at webone.com.au wrote:
> > > i don't want to see any more versions of python.
> > > ITS FINISHED
> > > AND I LOVE IT RIGHT NOW
> > > if you want more then make a new language.
> >
> > Regretably, Simon, you are out of luck. In order to convince
> > Microsoft to support Python natively in their .NET initiative,
> > Guido was forced to make several major concessions. One of those
> > was to recind the "Open Source" liscense, which allowed anyone
> > to freely use Python -- using any version they wanted for (pretty
> > much) any purpose.
> >
> > Unfortunately, Python is now released on a more restrictive
> > liscense, which, in a future version, will require all Python
> > programs to contact a Microsoft Certification server and
> > present a Passport certification before executing. In order to
> > ensure that everyone migrates to the new version of the software
> > (to be released as soon as Microsoft finishes building the
> > infrastructure), the migration will be mandatory.
>
> This "bon mot" needs more clarification.  This implies that Python will
> only be available to the Windows community.  There are environments where
> Microsoft Certification servers will never exist.  If there will now be
> a component added to Python to only allow its use when authorized by a
> Microsoft Certification server, then one may need to change or develop a
> new solution set.
>
> I'm not particularly opposed to forking off a "Python for Microsoft
> Windows Environments" or a "Python for Microsoft Certification Server
> Environments" as long as there remains a Python for other communities of
> interest.  If the latter is not going to occur, then I need to reconsider
> whether or not Python is part of a viable solution.
>
That's OK. I'm working on a Python-to-Perl translator. The Python
interpreter used in Unix environments will simply translate to Perl on the
fly and execute that, so you'll hardly notice any difference.

regards
 Steve
--
http://www.holdenweb.com/