Logged In: YES 
user_id=203860

"Note that processes using WinMain can get at argc and argv 
under MSVC via including stdlib.h and using __argc and 
__argv instead."

This is irrelevant.  The OS passes the command line into a 
process as a single string, which it makes accessible 
through the GetCommandLine() function.  The argument vector 
received by main() or accessible as __argv is generated 
from this by the C run-time library.

"The right way to address this is to add more smarts to 
spawn.py in distutils"

I disagree.  The right thing to do is to make these 
functions behave in the same way across platforms, as far 
as possible.  Perhaps this could be done in two stages - in 
the first release, make the fix optional, and in the 
second, use it all the time.