There is significant interest in a cross-platform file-launcher.[1][2][3][4]
The ideal implementation would be an operating-system-agnostic interface that launches a file for editing or viewing, similar to the way os.startfile() works for Windows, but generalized to allow caller-specification of view vs. edit preference and support all registered os.name operating systems, not just 'nt'.
Mercurial has a mature python implementation for cross-platform launching of an editor (either GUI editor or terminal-based editor like vi).[5][6] The python std lib os.startfile obviously works for Windows.
The Mercurial functionality could be rolled into os.startfile() with additional named parameters for edit or view preference and gui or non-gui preference. Perhaps that would enable backporting belwo Python 3.x. Or is there a better place to incorporate this multi-platform file launching capability?
[3]: http://stackoverflow.com/questions/1442841/lauch-default-editor-like-webbrowser-module