You may have more than one Python installation on a machine. This in no way forces you to move "all of your applications" to 2.1. The binary releases in particular make this drop-dead easy; they come with a bundled Python, and do not affect any other Python you may have in any way.
right, but by the same token the binary releases won't require special warnings to people about upgrading to 2.1.
And note that Zope is a pretty diverse community - just because i18n is not very important to _you_ does not mean it is not important. There are plenty who consider it hugely significant, and who are at least as perturbed that we _haven't_ done this yet.
The question is not whether i18n ought to be done, but whether you ought to require upgrading to Py 2.1 to achieve it.
On the basis of prior performance I do not expect this objection to make any difference in what DC does, but I needed to express it anyway.
You may find that making your objections in a less inflammatory way will give them more impact.
I do not know how one would measure "impact" in order to test this proposition. If "impact" means changing DC policy or software in any way, then I suspect as previously stated that hearts+flowers wouldn't get it done either. If "impact" means that the question would get a response, well, this thread's existence may be a counterexample. What I do know is that requiring an upgrade to a not-yet-gold Py release as a prerequisite to the next Zope release is unwise software policy.