New Python 3.0 string formatting - really necessary?

[r]

Just to be on record, i am OK with adding a new way to do this as long
as the old C style str format does not ever go away. I don't like 20
ways to do the same thing, but i really like the compact way of
%formating now. My complaint is the deprecation of %formating. Maybe
i'll use the new syntax to print a tuple or two, but that is the only
use i have for it ;).

Slowing down Python even more than it is, is suicide. Sure high level
languages are slower than there complied brethren, but a line has to
be drawn in the sand somewhere. As CPU speeds increase so does the
complexity's of modern software. GUI toolkits hog more resources as
they need eye pleasing "glass effects".

You can't just blindly Parrot off.. "well CPU's get faster every
year".

Python must stay fast, and simplistic(but not too simplistic), to
compete with other high level languages.