[Python-Dev] ActiveState & Python

[David Ascher]

As Mark mentioned in his email to python-dev, he is no longer employed
by ActiveState.  While I'm dealing with my grief about that unfortunate
event in private, I think it's worth clarifying a few things in public:

1) Over the last two years, Mark has become my personal god of
programming.  ActiveState as a whole has benefited tremendously from
having Mark on staff, I have learned a tremendous amount from him, and
the entire ActiveState team hope to be able to bring him back on board
as soon as possible.

2) The reason for Mark's departure is simple -- ActiveState has had to
make some painful cuts in staff in order to ensure our continued
survival in these difficult economic times.  We hope these cuts will be
short-lived and that we will be able to bring back the excellent
personel that had to be let go soon.

3) ActiveState is still committed to supporting its Python initiatives and
current product line. For example, a release of ActivePython based on
Python 2.2 is forthcoming.  As regards Komodo, we do have plans for future
releases.  The features we are looking at adding in future releases
include:

	* Integrated version control support (right now it's done
	  through the "external command" interface)
	* Perl autocompletion (not sure that python-dev'ers care about
          that one =)
	* Improved web services consumption (1.2 has support
	  for this already)
	* Macro support
	* Key-mappings (like emacs and vi key modes)

As usual, we look forward to feedback from customers as to what the next
version of Komodo should look like.

If you have any questions about any of the above, feel free to contact me.
I'm on vacation but am reading email periodically.

--David Ascher
  Friend of Mark's
  Director, Programming Tools
  ActiveState