Express is not extensible, so no. This is a business decision not a technical issue. I personally disagree with it, but then again I don't make these decisions.

It works with the free VS-Shell runtimes, so in theory it should work with Express editions, but YMMV.

toyg is correct. You can use PTVS w the the free "Integrated Shell" which gives you "Python Express". Please see the installation page on http://pytools.codeplex.com. thx.

Thank you for the info -- I'll give it a whirl.