[Python-Dev] [Python-checkins] MSI being downloaded 10x more than all other files?!

[Jim Jewett]

On 12/8/06, Guido van Rossum <guido at python.org> wrote:
> /ftp/python/2.5/python-2.5.msi is by far the top download -- 271,971
> hits, more than 5x the next one, /ftp/python/2.5/Python-2.5.tgz
> (47,898 hits). Are these numbers real?

Why wouldn't it be?

Most computers are running windows.

Most people running some other operating system can get python from
that someplace else -- and have to if they don't want to compile it
themselves.  (But recompiling isn't usually a barrier, as compilers
usually come with the system.)

Most people running windows cannot compile python.  I'm not sure there
even *is* a free way to do it; mingw may well compile additional
extensions, but it can't compile the main python tree.  There have
been recipes for using free MSVC versions, but I'm not sure whether
any work today.

-jJ