Can we create an_object = object() and add attribute like for a class?

Hi all,

Is there any reason that under Python you cannot instantiate the object
class and create any attributes like you would be able for a normal class?

Python 2.4.2 (#67, Sep 28 2005, 12:41:11) [MSC v.1310 32 bit (Intel)] on
win32
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>>> a = object()
>>> a.data = 1
Traceback (most recent call last):
   File "<stdin>", line 1, in ?
AttributeError: 'object' object has no attribute 'data'
>>>
>>> class Object:
... pass
...
>>> a = Object()
>>> a.data = 1
>>> print "a.data = ", a.data
a.data = 1
>>>
>>> class Object2(object):
... pass
...
>>> b = Object2()
>>> b.data = 2
>>> b.data
2

I also tried with Python 2.4.3 with the same results.
Being able to do it would seem a natural way of declaring namespaces.

--
Pierre Rouleau