Keep in mind the GIL is only a problem when you a) use threads and b) perform CPU-bound operations (unless you need soft real time)<p>When writing CPU-bound code, there are many libraries like NumPy that can do your heavy lifting in native code (thus avoiding the GIL)<p>So it really isn't as bad as it seems.  The reason this patch is good, is because it prevents performance from falling apart if one of your threads takes up too much CPU.