Python MSVC++ binaries considered evil

[J.Jacob]

One of the beauties of Python is that you can extend it with C modules.
Recode your bottlenecks in C and you program can have the speed of programs
written completely in C.

Unfortunately this is not true when you have a Windows operating system and
you have Python installed from binaries.  You will need the Microsoft Visual
C++ 6.0 compiler.  That compiler is expensive and has licence issues.  Since
most Python installations are from Windows binaries this effectively ties
Python to Microsoft.  Maybe many developers have some Unix version available
but their customers will usually have Windows.  Some people have been doing a
great job building Python Windows binaries and installation programs and this
has added considerably to the popularity of Python.  However, if you are going
to write software for them your C extensions need to talk to the Windows
binaries.

Is there another solution?  With the Cygwin package you can compile Python for
Windows but this makes you depending on Cygwin, and your customers will
probably have to install Cygwin.  The MingW gcc compiler for Windows looks
good but i have not been able to compile Python with it and i have not seen
anybody else doing it successfully without losing much Windows modules.  Do we
need a brand new C compiler?  Will Microsoft make it impossible for that
compiler to have COM / DLL / VB / etc.  interfaces?

Some of the core Python developers have finished a Spread version
(www.python.org/other/spread) and i hope they now can find the time to have a
look at this MSVC++ issue.  Free Python !