New Python 3.0 string formatting - really necessary?

[r]

if 3.0 looks like... print( "{0}={1}".format('this',99)) , WTF...
thats retarded and looks like Ruby code. Thats not intuitive thats
madness! What happens when you need a conversion to string from an
integer, more code?? My faith is slipping. Have the python Gods gone
mad??. Please tell me i am wrong.

Pythons likeness to C is one of its great powers. I always thought of
Python as an intuitive way to write C code.

I am sticking with 2x(which i had planned to do anyway) I have heard
of nothing significant enough to compel me to make the change yet. And
with that example from 3.0, i am really setting my ways now. i may
have to support the continuation of 2.x beyond 2.9.

Guido! please don't play Russian roulette with Python! I have loved
python all the way up through the 2.x line. And i carry a great
respect for you and your accomplishments. Python must feel at home to
a C programmer. That, i feel, is the professional following for
Python. I also feel Python is a gateway to the C language for n00b
programmers. Let Ruby have the Perl programmers, we don't need them!

Excuse me, I think i am going to cry now :(