Python fell into the Winamp trap. If anyone remembers, version 3 was pretty much crap, and many users stayed with 2.95 for ages. Now, I'm not saying Python 3 was bad, not at all, but the benefits don't outweigh the cost of switching for many people.

Here's my idea. Make a new "Python 5" (2+3=5, or call it whatever you want), based on Python 3. Put back everything that was deprecated or removed along the way, including the `print` statement. Provide `from python2 import xx` or `from python3 import xx` if there are incompatible module changes. To deal with the string changes, introduce an idiom like:

    bytes, str, unicode = python2_strings
    bytes, str, unicode = python3_strings

or:

    from python2 import bytes, str, unicode
    from python3 import bytes, str, unicode

which always maps "bytes" to the byte array (py2 "str", py3 "bytes"), unicode to the unicode char array (py2 "unicode", py3 "str"), and "str" to whatever the legacy code needs.

The goal would be to have 95% of legacy code run without modifications, or with a minimal addition of 2 lines to the top, or a command line switch.