Python has worked its way into the Fortune 100 company I'm consulting at. The project I'm on is three or four years old and has about two dozen Python programmers (including me) working on integrating legacy databases and creating custom GUIs in Python.

It is nice to see that there are companies out there that pick up on common sense and can foresee a future with Python. It is not always that way; in fact, it is hardly ever that way. As a quick example, I had the hardest time talking the folks at Cisco into even talking about Object Oriented (i.e. C++). Nope, it's C all the way and the sheer amount of code just stomps on your brain.

psss.... there is a little known method of reuse there. It's called copy-and-paste. Little changes in the variables and voila... you have a new algorithm. hehehe....

Python is inherently dynamic and the number one benefit is that it allows you to prototype extremely quickly. I'm waiting for the day that the benefit of Python being cross-platform to make an impact.

I think Python is not quite as acceptable as Perl across the board, but it is getting close, and for certain environments has certainly passed Perl (mostly because Perl wasn't very good in those areas to start with, like GUIs). Of course, Perl is not universally accepted either.

I think Python has slipped in all sorts of places. Anyone using Linux may be using Python. Any company using Linux may have developers writing Python tools without knowing it. Since it isn't bundled with Windows, those companies probably have a better idea when it gets installed.

As far as using Python as a core technology, there's much more work to do there. There are a substantial number of places that do so, both large and small, but there's lots more risks to using Python in your core business, like finding personel and really understanding best practices.