I think it would have been more prudent to have implemented an iterative approach: Python 2.8: - boring easy to fix changes like division, print function, exce

I think it would have been more prudent to have implemented an iterative approach: Python 2.8: - boring easy to fix changes like division, print function, exception handling syntax, removal of iteritems() / etc Python 2.9 - library reorganization (urllib2 & urllib, etc) Python 3.0 - unicode stuff Most organizations that have been lingering at 2.7 for 5+yrs would have long since migrated to 2.9, and would thus be half way to 3.x in terms of backwards compatibility. Now instead, everyone has to introduce the better part of a decade's worth of backwards compatibility changes at once, or be left in the dust. Hardly a fair choice.