diff --git a/Lib/test/test_socket_ssl.py b/Lib/test/test_socket_ssl.py
index a43ca5e76b..6ed0b094c3 100644
--- a/Lib/test/test_socket_ssl.py
+++ b/Lib/test/test_socket_ssl.py
@@ -28,23 +28,27 @@ def test_basic():
     buf = f.read()
     f.close()
 
-if not sys.platform.startswith('win'):
+# XXX Tim disabled this test on all platforms, for now, since the
+# XXX s.connect(("gmail.org", 995))
+# XXX line starting timing out on all the builbot slaves.
+if 0: not sys.platform.startswith('win'):
     def test_timeout():
         test_support.requires('network')
 
         s = socket.socket(socket.AF_INET, socket.SOCK_STREAM)
         s.settimeout(30.0)
-        # connect to service which issues an welcome banner (without need to write anything)
+        # connect to service which issues an welcome banner (without need to
+        # write anything)
         s.connect(("gmail.org", 995))
         ss = socket.ssl(s)
-        # read part of return welcome banner twice,# read part of return welcome banner twice
+        # read part of return welcome banner twice
         ss.read(1)
         ss.read(1)
         s.close()
 else:
     def test_timeout():
         pass
-					    
+
 def test_rude_shutdown():
     try:
         import thread