lowercase u before string in "python for windows"

[Tim Chase]

> why does this occur when using the python windows extensions? all
> string are prefixed by a lowercase "u".

They are Unicode strings:

http://docs.python.org/ref/strings.html

> is there a newsgroup explicitly for python windows extensions?

Not that I know of, other than what's described here:

https://sourceforge.net/mail/?group_id=78018

-tkc