Paul> Why is it that PHP and J2SE manage deal with this problem but Paul> Python cannot?
I can't speak authoritatively for either PHP or J2SE, but I suspect the latter at least has some signifiant monetary support (if not outright gobs of human resources) from Sun. PHP seems to have a more limited application domain (web apps) from which it has expanded a bit. Can I build a PHP site out of the box with a PostgreSQL or Oracle backend? Does J2SE have something comparable to Numpy or scipy? While might do the occasional bit of Python hacking for free, I still need to put food on the table. My employer doesn't care if MySQLdb (to use one of your examples) is delivered with Python or not. They aren't likely to want to support me to solve your problems. Skip -- http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-list