Why do this?

[Lawrence D'Oliveiro]

In message <mailman.1339.1160044890.10491.python-list at python.org>, Tim
Golden wrote:

> [Matthew Warren]
> | But nowadays, I see things like this all over the place;
> | 
> | print("There are %s ways to skin a %s" % (number, furryanimal))
> 
> The outermost brackets are (at the moment) unnecessary in python,
> altho' print is slated for replacement by a function in Python 3.0
> at which point they'll be necessary.

Why bother? What would then be the advantage of using print over
sys.stdout.write?

I thought the existing print statement was a convenience for interactive
use, newbie tutorials and the like. If it's going to become a function, why
not use the function that's already there?