title: Why does ActivePython exist?
body: <p>What's ActivePython actually about?</p>
  
  <p>From <a href="http://www.activestate.com/activepython/features/" rel="noreferrer">what I've read</a> it's just standard Python with OpenSSL and <a href="https://wiki.python.org/moin/PyWin32" rel="noreferrer">PyWin32</a> (on Windows). No big deal I guess; I could install them in matter of minutes, and most people don't need them anyway. All other mentioned libraries (zlib, bzip2, SQLite&nbsp;3, Tkinter, ElementTree, ctypes, and multiprocessing) are part of the core Python distribution.</p>
  
  <p>Next up, the tag-line "ActivePython is the industry-standard Python distribution", isn't core Python distribution "industry-standard" (whatever that means?)?</p>
  
  <p>And the weirdest thing, is that ActiveState bundles it with crappy <a href="https://wiki.python.org/moin/PythonWin" rel="noreferrer">PythonWin</a>, and not their own most-awesome Python editor/IDE, Komodo. What gives?</p>
  
  <p>I actually never got to installing ActivePython, so maybe I don't know something, but it seems pretty irrelevant, and I see the name quite often on forums or here.</p>