But indices are supposed to be strings according to the Tk 
documentation, and with 8.4 the Tkinter indices are strings.  Since 
most of the Tkinter 'documentation' is actually the Tcl/Tk man pages, 
it would be quite confusing to users if Tkinter diverged from Tcl/Tk 
in this regard.  I don't see any change from string in the Tk 8.5 
Text man page.

Second, is there a plan to switch to 8.5 for py3k?  If so, please 
post a link so I can catch up!  (I'm in favor of switching to 8.5, 
btw.)