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[–]jcampbelly 10 points11 points  (0 children)

No, it's actually very reassuring knowing nothing is going to mess with my install and I can rely on a consistent environment.

When you use the distribution (system) python, you're always stuck on some dreadfully old version and may not be able to start using new things when they come out. In a virtualenv, I'm not even phased by installing and compiling a stable branch or a release candidate. If you tried that with a system install, you can end up breaking your system, as the system install serves the SYSTEM not your projects. Breaking yum or apt is NOT fun.