gnumeric 1.7.x for windows?

[Christian Ritter <ritter stat ucl ac be>]

I see that there have been quite a number of changes/enhancements since 
the pre release 1.7 for windows. Is there hope to see a new windows 
binary before Xmas or shortly after? - On this subject: could someone 
who has successfully done it explain to me what I have to do to build 
gnumeric 1.7.x under windows? What do I need as base installation and 
runtimes? Would it be hard to compile in the python support?

Thanks in advance ...

Chris

P.S.: I'll soon again teach spreadsheet courses under windows and I 
would like to present gnumeric as a serious alternative to Excel ...