Scalable Windows Development Environments?

spirality asks: "I've been developing under *NIX since I started writing software about ten years ago, and my company has been developing its product under *NIX since its inception. Until recently that is. We just completed the first Windows version of our product. Under Unix we used CVS with a custom build environment that we developed in house, and it simply can not be ported to Windows. What are Slashdot users, who must develop under Windows, using for a development environment?" "Though it does work under Cygwin, (this is how we got our port in place), it's simply not viable, as a simple compile/link cycle can sometimes take over an hour. We've begun to use Visual Studio, but have found that it lacks in many respects, especially when it comes to syncing project files among our developers. Obviously people are developing LOTS of Windows applications, and I can't imagine that everyone has a crippled development environment. What kinds of tools are used for source code revision, and especially what mode is Visual C++ used in? Given our dependence on third party libraries there is no way that we can avoid Visual C++, though use of the Microsoft IDE is not necessary. We have a team of about ten and are going to be adding more, so an environment that scales well is essential."

Comments

quote

[Apreche]

"...and I can't imagine that everyone has a crippled development environment...

Most windows developers have never used, do not know how to use and might not even know anything about *nix. They do not realize how crippled their development environments are because they have never used anything else. They often weigh the easiness of clicking as more valuable than the power of a nice build script that you would have to write.

In other words, the vast majority of windows build environments are extremely crippled. But the people using them either suck it up or don't know any better. Try mingw, a little better than cygwin.

Simple Answer

[Rie Beam]

"What are Slashdot users, who must develop under Windows, using for a development environment?"

Knoppix?

You don't want to do that.

[aminorex]

Firstly, it seems very odd to be moving development from unix to windows. Unix is designed for development. Windows is not. I would seriously take a look at your reasons for doing this.

Secondly, it would be a very rare and odd thing for your unix code not to be easily portable to the Windows environment. Cygwin is for that.