"pip" error message

[Mats Wichmann]

On 4/21/20 5:38 AM, Frank Millman wrote:
> On 2020-04-21 12:02 PM, Simone Bravin wrote:
>>
>> I found that I had downloaded Python from what I would call "automatic
>> check version link" and that downloaded the 32-bit version, but my
>> notebook have 64-bit, so I changed the version to the 64-bit one.
>>
> 
> I have had the same problem in the past. Most software download pages
> seem to detect whether you are running 32 or 64 bit, and default to the
> correct download option.
> 
> Python shows a big yellow 'Download the latest version for Windows'
> button, which most people will select by default. However, it actually
> downloads the 32 bit version, without any indication that this is what
> it is doing.
> 
> I could have the details wrong - I am not going to repeat the install
> just to check. But this is what I recall from the last time I did this.
> 
> This seems like a good time to bring this up, as in another thread we
> are discussing how to improve the download experience on Windows for
> newbies.

There's a long-running thread on this in, well, more than one place.

The experts on the Windows experience in general (i.e. Microsoft folks)
maintained for a long time that the 32-bit Python was the correct
default - they have usage statistics on a worldwide basis that nobody
else could have access to. That stance may have softened a bit but
there's been no change to the web page yet.   The web page does OS
detection, but not bitness-detection, and yes that's intentional but
won't go into that here.

The 32-bit Python runs just fine on 64-bit Windows, by the way. There
shouldn't have been a problem with it.  There's also nothing wrong with
switching to the 64-bit version if you like - mainly that choice should
these be driven by what extra packages are available; for a long time it
was more likely that binary wheels were available for 32-bit Python, and
I think now that's actually shifting such that some developers may not
be uploading the 32-bit wheels any longer.