Trent Nelson has just posted to python-dev about a Microsoft-sponsored proposal called CoApp. The idea is — as I understand it — to support the packaging of Open Source s/w on the Windows platform. The current situation is quite well outlined on the wiki. It looks like a very interesting initiative and I for one hope that it succeeds.

I find exactly the issues that the author outlines on page: open source s/w is mostly *nix-oriented, naturally, and assumes the development setups which that implies. By and large, Windows ports are either best-endeavour bolt-ons or rely on Cygwin / MingW environments. Python performs rather better here with a maintained VS solution, but even there you have to do a little bit more jiggery-pokery with file locations than I’d like.

I’ve signed up for the CoApp announcments list, so let’s see what happens…