Misleading error message when opening a file (on Windows XP SP 2)

[Claudio Grondi]

Here an example of what I mean
(Python 2.4.2, IDLE 1.1.2, Windows XP SP2, NTFS file system, 80 GByte 
large file):

 >>> f = file('veryBigFile.dat','r')
 >>> f = file('veryBigFile.dat','r+')

Traceback (most recent call last):
   File "<pyshell#1>", line 1, in -toplevel-
     f = file('veryBigFile.dat','r+')
IOError: [Errno 2] No such file or directory: 'veryBigFile.dat'

Is it a BUG or a FEATURE?

Claudio Grondi