Yes py2exe and freeze etc. I agree the tooling for python is very good and I find the community to be one of the better ones as you have mentioned.

Coming from a pure Microsoft background, and that not being C# but databases and cubes, I find some of the freedom in the ways of working with Python "scary" at times. Microsoft tends to build a nice set of tracks that their developers seem to follow so it all ends up very corporate and "best practice". (Just my personal opinion) It thus feels like there are much more "training wheels" applied for beginners in something like C# and .Net than what you have in most open source technologies.

Thanks again for your replies.