Instead of speculating here, have you asked ActiveState? They do talk about it in their ActivePerl FAQ.

We could do without the race card, though. There's no evidence that ActiveState is purposedly trying to make ActivePython better by making ActivePerl worse. They are generally good people trying to do a good job, just like a lot of us. Just because you probably can't put a face or name along with the corporate name doesn't excuse unfounded accusations or name-calling.

Update: The original title of this node was 'AS "racism" wrt PATHEXT' Double quotes or not, words have meaning. "Racism" assigns malacious intent. "Discrimination" does much of the same thing. You immediately attack, rather than query. You could have simply asked "Does the ActivePerl installer affect PATHEXT? It doesn't seem to do it for me." First, collect information. Last, draw conclusions. You got it backwards this time.