This conversation gets discussed often with Numpy developers but since the requirement for optimized Blas is pretty common these days, how about distributing Numpy with OpenBlas by default? People who don't want optimized BLAS or OpenBLAS can then edit the site.cfg file to add/remove. I can never remember if Numpy comes with Atlas by default but either way, if using MKL is not feasible because of its licensing issues then Numpy has to be re-compiled with OpenBLAS (for example). Why not make it easier for developers to use Numpy with an in-built optimized Blas. Btw, just in case some folks from Intel are listening: how about releasing MKL binaries for all platforms for developers to do with it what they want ie. free. You know it makes sense!