ActivePython 2.0 Release

[Olivier Dagenais]

I believe it is analogous to saying "What's so special about RedHat (or
Mandrake, Debian, etc..) if I can download and build my own Linux?"  It's
all about packaging & distribution and I think ActiveState is on the right
track.

--
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Olivier A. Dagenais - Software Architect and Developer
"Someone called 'Type your name here' is impersonating me on the
internet and is posting exactly the same things I am posting!"


"Paul Prescod" <paulp at ActiveState.com> wrote in message
news:mailman.972079615.3589.python-list at python.org...
> Before I start to describe the benefits of the ActivePython 2.0
> installation for windows, I'd like to make the point that as far as I
> know, ActiveState is the first source for Python 2.0 binaries for
> Solaris,
> and Debian Linux (in addition to the more mainstream Windows and RPM
> installations). Quality assured cross-platform distributions are a big
> part of our mission. So looking only at the Windows installer does not
> give the whole picture.
>
> Q. How does ActivePython benefit the Windows user?
>
> We strove to make ActivePython the easiest way to
> get started with Python 2.0. It is certainly possible to download most
> parts of the ActivePython product from various sites:
>
>  * Python 2.0 core
>  * PythonWin environment
>  * Win32 APIs
>  * TKinter
>  * Indexed HTMLHelp versions of Python documentation
>
> If you are a Python expert and you know what you want and where to get
> it, then ActivePython may not be of interest to you. On the other hand,
> when you wish to distribute a program with dependencies on these various
> packages you may want to point your customers at ActiveState's
> distribution rather than at various download sites.
>
> In addition to the major advantages of multi-platform support and ease
> of
> installation, ActivePython is expected to be the first of many
> ActiveState
> Python-world products. We look forward to being able to point our
> customers at a family of quality assured, cross-platform distributions
> rather than multiple parts for multiple operating systems. Also, we are
> not bound by anyone else's release schedule so we can release newer
> versions on an accelerated schedule when we feel that will benefit our
> customers.
>
> Q. Why use the Microsoft Installer (MSI)?
>
> My opinion is that an operating system should come with a standard
> installation engine rather than having it bundled in each executable
> distribution. This allows much safer and cleaner uninstallation and
> dependency tracking because the operating system knows everything that
> is going on. In my personal opinion, Microsoft, Red Hat, Debian etc.
> have finally gotten this right. It is unfortunate that older versions of
> Windows do not come with MSI. Even if we had Guido's time machine I
> don't think we could correct that situation. I've railed against the
> Windows installer situation for about a decade and it didn't have any
> effect the first time!
>
> Q. How does ActivePython differ from PythonLabs in terms of
> "standard-ness"?
>
> We have one minor bug fix and miscellaneous changes to the build system
> and documentation to reflect our alternate documentation delivery
> format.
> The primary reason that there are so few differences is because
> ActiveState contributes our improvements to the Python core to the
> Python
> development team. That ensures that we remain standard and everybody
> benefits from our work.
>
> Q. What's in the package?
>
> ActivePython ships with TKinter and IDLE but not TK. This keeps our file
> size down. IDLE is not in the start menu because it depends on TKinter
> and
> anyway it would be somewhat confusing for us to suggest two development
> environments for the same product.
>
> We are certainly interested in feedback on our choice of extensions to
> include and exclude. This is especially true of the GUI world where
> there are many different libraries competing for support.
>
> ActivePython-Feedback at activestate.com is the best place to voice these
> opinions because it is connected to our bug and feature request tracking
> systems.
>
> Q. Why doesn't the license allow redistribution?
>
> ActiveState's license does not allow redistribution without contacting
> us. Anyone who has created, tested and supported multiple platform
> installations knows that this is a large effort and ActiveState depends
> upon the publicity that accrues from having people download from our
> site. This also helps us to quickly take obsolete versions (especially
> betas) out of circulation and to ensure that our customers have the code
> we expect them to have.
>
> Q. What does ActivePython contribute to the Python world?
>
> Guido has stated on various occasions that he hoped that multiple Python
> distributions would arise and thrive. Out of the box, ActivePython is an
> excellent platform for developing Windows, Linux or Solaris
> applications. Those who are new to Python world and want to get up and
> running, with lets say COM or MFC programming quickly and easily now
> have a choice that gets them there. Choice is good.
>
> Also, not every ActiveState product will be groundbreaking and
> revolutionary. Some are incremental improvements. Nevertheless, we have
> announced many products that will take Python places it has never been
> before and ActivePython is a part of that strategy.
>
>  Paul Prescod
>  ActiveState Tool Corp.
>