Python multiprocessing process vs. standalone Python VM

Question

Aside from the ease of use of the multiprocessing module when it comes to hooking up processes with communication resources, are there any other differences between

Answer 1

If you ignore any communication issues (i.e., if the separate Python VMs do not communicate among themselves, or communicate only through other mechanisms that are explicitly established), there are no other substantial differences. (I believe multiprocessing, under certain conditions -- Unix-like platforms, in particular -- can use the more efficient fork rather than the fork-exec pair always implied by multiprocessing -- but that's not "substantial" when just a few processes are involved [[IOW, the performance difference on startup will not be material to the performance of the whole system]]).