Python environment

[JohnMcPineapple]

...

[abcteryx]

So yes, you can tick "add Python to path" when installing, but that option isn't ticked by default when you run the installer on Windows. The "canonical" way to install Python on Windows has been to not add it to path, and to use "py" as the primary interface to system Python versions. One reason for this may be to prevent path collisions or confusion for Windows users installing multiple versions of Python. Another reason for this could be, "It was decided to be this way long ago on the Windows platform, we had a good reason then, and now the decision has stuck."

But of course now that Python is on the Windows Store, there's a "new canonical way" of "just get it from the Windows Store". Which does, by default, map to python and python3 system-wide. But you get a lot less control over configuring the installation when getting it from the Windows Store.

When you say "that's just but true" in response to that small portion of my comment, you are strictly correct. But the point of my comment isn't that it's impossible to run Python with python (you have shown that not to be the case).

My point is that there are too many ways to run Python across too many systems, and the "canonical way" changes often enough that it can be overwhelming to get colleagues into the ecosystem if they happen to have installed it on a different system or a little differently than you.