Guido should have stuck with his original plan - keep updating python 2.X till it's converged to python 3.
Deprecate print statements, warn if you don't import division from __future__, and so on. Maybe even leave a 2.X compatibility mode: `from __past__ import print_statement`.
I guess unicode is a sticky point though. I really don't know what can be done about except rant about how hard unicode is.
I am sure Guido realized one thing. Where would he get the resources to keep updating and do P3. I think he chose the right path. 5 year plan (half way there) to move everything to P3. That gives them a good time-frame to get things in P3 solid and stable (however you want to apply those terms).
Deprecate print statements, warn if you don't import division from __future__, and so on. Maybe even leave a 2.X compatibility mode: `from __past__ import print_statement`.
I guess unicode is a sticky point though. I really don't know what can be done about except rant about how hard unicode is.