long-term release schedule?

[Ray Smith]

"Tim Peters" <tim_one at email.msn.com> wrote in message 

> [Gerrit Holl]
> > does a long-term release schedule exist? I know that, after Python
> > 2.3, Python 2.4 will follow. 

[snip]
 
> Sorry, nobody knows.  Python 3.0 in particular would require finding a way
> to fund at least Guido's time on it, and there's no obvious way (at this
> time) to do that.  


I'm looking at introducing Python into a corporate environment and the
above
statement seems at least a little worrying (the first time I thought
about it).

Thinking again it seems obvious that any Open Source or Proprietary
software
can be discontinued.  I guess this is where Open Source software
excels since
other people can pick the ball up and continue on with bug fixes and
further
development.

Now to my question: (a silly question really ... but what the heck) 

The core Python language seems very stable, if bug fixes where the
only changes
to Python in the next 5-10 years would Python still gain in popularity
as fast as
it is now?

It seems that the libraries and addon's are probably more important
(from here on in)
to the overall usage and popularity of Python?? 

What are people's thoughts?

Regards,

Ray Smith