Python vs .Net

[Brian Quinlan]

> .NET is Microsoft's approach to embrace and extend the OpenSource
> "scene" by publishing a quasi-standard framework which consists of the
> company's "core technologies" (COM/DCOM/passport, just to name a few)

Nope. COM/DCOM is not part of .NET. This is an interoperability layer to
allow .NET applications to use COM components though.

> that are ported in some way to run on anything that's out there,
barely,
> and "a little better" on their platform.

The jury is out on whether they really want all of .NET to run on other
platforms.

> .NET provides several language bindings (C$$$^H^H^H#, ahem, MSVC,
> VB,... but why would you /want/ to code in those languages once you
made
> friends with Python?[1]).

I don't like the way you are using the word bindings. They are bindings
in the same sense that Python has x86 bindings.
 
> Python is an interpreted, object-oriented, weak-typed, [...]
programming
> language that enables you to write elegant and working code. Python
> employs "third-party" bindings to C-libraries or native Python modules
> to provide additional functionalty or access to third-party APIs.

Python is not weakly-typed. It is strongly dynamically typed. 

'foo' + 5 # ok => weakly-typed
'foo' + 5 # exception at runtime => strongly dynamically typed
'foo' + 5 # exception at compile time => strongly statically typed

Cheers,
Brian