Or any other normal scripting language for that matter. I know there is VBScript and JScript. But I don't really like those for any kind of computing.
I would really love to have python or ruby (or perl) interpreter installed with windows by default so when I write small console applications I wouldn't need to distribute whole python installation with it via py2exe(or similar).
Do you know if there is such incentive? Do you think this would be possible? Or it's not acceptable for Microsoft?
Because Windows doesn't need those languages to run, by default ?
(While, for instance, many basic Linux utilities depend on some script-languages, like Perl)
I would add that JScript and VBScript have been implemted by Microsoft -- so Microsoft can distribute their implementation ; on the other hand, there is no Microsoft implementation of either Python, PHP, or Perl, ...
The Microsoft scripting tool is Powershell. It is a standard part of Windows 7.
You could create your own Windows Installation-Disc with the wished script or programming language installed on default..
Perhaps search on SuperUser.com (or Google) for this matter.
Install Python/Perl on your development server, do your programming/coding there, test and compile them into executables, using tools such as py2exe (Python) or perl2exe (Perl). then distribute them (without the interpreter). That's one way.
Microsoft makes it pretty obvious they want you to use their version of everything. So what is in it for them to have Python or any other language as part of their Windows operating system?
They want you to program for Microsoft Internet Explorer using Microsoft Active Server Pages with Microsoft Visual Basic on Microsoft Internet Information Server, back-ended by Microsoft SQL Server running on top of Microsoft Windows. It goes on and on like this...
It makes perfect sense from a business perspective when you think about it.
So... Will we see competing "products"--even open source ones--installed by default on Windows? Not gonna happen anytime soon.
Another way to do it is to distribute your apps with an installer such as NSIS and if python is not installed, install it.
Microsoft have no incentive to install {your favourite tool here} unless:
Microsoft includes PowerShell and Microsoft's own development libraries (like VC, previously msvbvmXX.dll's, .net) because these are Microsoft products, part of their development tools. This is to encourage use of their tools and make it easier for people using their tools to deploy, compared to other languages. Why? They're in a competitive business.
Firstly, Windows doesn't need them to run, and to be honest, most people buying Windows have no knowledge of - let alone interest in - scripting languages.
It then comes down to ownership and support. There's nothing ships as part of a default Windows installation which isn't owned, designed and developed by Microsoft. They own everything, so the buck stops with them. If they shipped any third-party packages as part of the installer who would pick up support if something goes wrong?
Finally, there's the competitive advantage of providing your own products over third-party tools or packages in a default installation.