The machines I use for development usually run some sort of UNIX or UNIX-like OS (i.e. Linux). Sometimes I have to use Windows as well though for development.

The machines I use for development usually run some sort of UNIX or UNIX-like OS (i.e. Linux). Sometimes I have to use Windows as well though for development. From direct comparison I can tell that Windows still sucks for general-purpose software development (if you develop Windows software you'll be fine, obviously): Installing, maintaining and running common development tools takes considerably more effort. Many of the tools used in software development come from a UNIX background that often just doesn't quite fit the Windows way of doing things. The Windows command line - though greatly improved in recent years - is still playing catch-up with its UNIX equivalents. Basically, what one commonly ends up with to make Windows usable for development at all is installing some sort of UNIX environment (Cygwin, Git Bash etc.).