I think this is fundamentally because of the Python philosophy around one-true-way to do things (something that&#x27;s open to interpretation given the number of string functions that are around). IMHO, the Python 3 vs Python 2 split is a phlisophical rift rather than a technical one. There is no real technical reasons why print and print() cannot coexist.<p>In all reality, Python 2 and Python 3 are completely differently languages at this point. Communities&#x2F;companies&#x2F;projects that have adopted Python 2 do not care about anything that Python 3 gives them. Take for instance Flask - to maintain compatibility with the WSGI spec they have to maintain Python 2 compatibility indefinitely. Less than 30% of all software is compatible with Py3 and any new software releases are built on top of Python 2 - yes I&#x27;m looking at Tensorflow.<p>I&#x27;m very doubtful that Python Foundation is going to drop support by 2020. Quite simply - a highly funded Python company (like anaconda) can create a fork.<p>The only way this situation can be fixed is Python 4 with co-existence of Python 3 and Python 2 functions.