Why so few Python jobs? (and licenses)

[Alan Miller]

Aahz Maruch (aahz at panix.com) wrote:
>Laura Creighton  <lac at strakt.com> wrote:
>>I know of 2 companies that considered doing their development work in
>>Python but concluded that though the core language was terrific, the
>>libraries were fragmentary, incomplete, and not up to the vigorous
>>standards they had come to expect from other languages such as C++.
>
><raised eyebrow>  Stock C++ has better libraries than Python?

In some ways it might for commercial development, though perhaps not off 
the shelf.  The standard libraries in Python are good, but quite a bit 
of functionality is added through libraries that are GPL'd.  Sure it's 
possible to get in touch with the authors of various packages and 
negotiate your own licenses with them, but the combination of that _and_ 
a new programming language might well be enough to scare off companies.

I know that very issue has been a concern to me and has kept me from 
pushing harder to get Python widely accepted internally - since we're 
developing closed-source software, being able to keep it closed is 
important.  Sure it's possible to negotiate licenses, but if it takes 
significant time internally plus a few hundred dollars in licensing fees 
are we much better off than if we'd gone out and bought a commercial 
library for $200?  If nothing else the company is large enough that 
purchasing off-the-shelf libraries is pretty simple, while negotiating 
licenses is less so.

ajm