Let's assume that you're right, that the main reason for Python 3 was Unicode. I've dealt with Unicode both with and without language support (in Python and el

Let's assume that you're right, that the main reason for Python 3 was Unicode. I've dealt with Unicode both with and without language support (in Python and elsewhere), and this is a pretty important feature. I think that the world in general, and the Python world in particular, is better off with Unicode support in the built-in str class. That said, other languages -- most recently and notably, Ruby -- have managed to make the Unicode transition without leaving much of the existing user base behind. I realize that Python is often used in larger and slower-moving organizations than Ruby, and also has a more conservative philosophy. Even so, perhaps they could have announced Python 2.8, identical to 2.7 in every way except that strings are now Unicode. Then, after 1-2 years of everyone getting their Unicode house in order, we could have moved onto 2.9 or 3.0, and/or used the "from future" syntax. There is no perfect solution, but it seems to me that by breaking so many things at once, we're in a situation where everyone wants to upgrade, but no one sees the overwhelming benefit from doing so, and thus puts it off even further.