Issue 1510853: Add Windows 9x/ME (lack of) support information to README.TX (original) (raw)

I suggest that following informative note should be added as a new sub-section in README.TXT's "Unsupported systems" (which really needs mentioning MacOS 9). The sub-section idea regards README.TXT only talking about already unsupported platforms.

Motivation: As one of the few Windows 98 users that program in Python AND installed the 2.5 beta1, I was greeted by Tools/msi/msi.py's warning message. However, no further information was available in the downloaded release or in the online beta documents (What's New, release notes, etc.).

Best regards, Daniel Diniz

Warning on install in Windows 98 and Windows Me

Following Microsoft's closing of Extended Support for Windows 98/ME (July 11, 2006), Python 2.6 will stop supporting these platforms. Python development and maintainability becomes easier (and more reliable) when platform specific code targeting OSes with few users and no dedicated expert developers is taken out. The vendor also warns that the OS versions listed above "can expose customers to security risks" and recommends upgrade. For a more detailed discussion regarding no-longer-supported and resupporting platforms, as well as a list of platforms that became or will be unsupported, see PEP 11.

Current behavior The Python 2.5 installer presents a warning message on those systems: "Warning: Python 2.5.x is the last Python release for Windows 9x."

Suggested readings PEP 11: Removing support for little used platforms (http://www.python.org/dev/peps/pep-0011) End of support for Windows 98, Windows Me, and Windows XP Service Pack 1 (http://www.microsoft.com/windows/support/endofsupport.mspx)