To be fair, some of the prior section’s pitfalls may be an inevitable consequence of trying to simultaneously support a Unix feature on Windows and multiple installed versions. In exchange, it provides a coherent way to manage mixed-version scripts and installations. You’ll probably find the Windows launcher shipped with 3.3 and later to be a major asset once you start using it, and get past any initial incompatibilities you may encounter.

In fact, you may also want to start getting into the habit of coding compatible Unix-style #! lines in your Windows scripts, with explicit version numbers (e.g., #!/usr/bin/python3). Not only does this declare your code’s requirements and arrange for its proper execution on Windows, it will also subvert the launcher’s defaults, and may also make your script usable as a Unix executable in the future.

But you should be aware that the launcher may break some formerly valid scripts having #! lines, may choose a default version that you don’t expect and your scripts can’t use, and may require configuration and code changes on the order of those it was intended to obviate. The new boss is better than the old boss, but seems to have gone to the same school.

For more on Windows usage, see Appendix A for installation and configuration, Chapter 3 for general concepts, and platform-specific documents in Python’s manuals set.