[Python-Dev] VS 11 Express is Metro only.

["Martin v. Löwis"]

> Microsoft is now claiming that it will be able to using something called
> "multi-targeting", "later this year.
> 
>     http://blogs.msdn.com/b/vcblog/archive/2012/06/15/10320645.aspx

Interesting. Unlike the re-addition of desktop app support for Express,
which was a purely political decision, this change likely involves
significant code changes to the CRT, in particular if they aim for a
single CRT that works on XP but uses newer features on Vista+.

At the downside for CPython, this probably also means that they will not
extend the life of VS 2010 just to support XP, as they can tell people
to switch to VS 2012 and still support XP. So VS 2010 will probably
expire on 07/14/2015 for mainstream support as planned today.

So for 3.4, we have to ask whether to switch to VS 2012 or stay with
VS 2010, and for 3.5, we have to ask whether to switch to VS 2014
(assuming that's when the next release is made).

Regards,
Martin