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I don't think we should remove that command. It does no harm
being there,  and it already allows one to install in any
directory. For example, the following command allows one to
build a zip file relative to "site-packages/".

python setup.py bdist_dumb --format=zip install
--install-lib /site-packages

OTOH, there are some issues here:

- what should be done about script files, which would
usually be included in /usr/bin on a unix system? binaries
can be moved as well, using the same mechanism explained
above, but currently there's no standard place to but them;
- a binary distribution could include machine specific binaries;

I think the original author had this issues in mind when
created the bdist_dumb command, and that's why it even
includes the platform name in the generated file.

About not being able to use it in different python major
versions, that's a binary distrubtion. Other binary
distributions, like rpm, behave in the same way. Also,
binary compatibility between major versions is not
guaranteed, AFAIK.

Having in mind these issues, my suggestion is to close that
bug and leave the command as is.