On windows you could install msys and then use pacman -S whatever to install packages. Calling it from any editor could be as simple as changing the PATH. On t

On windows you could install msys and then use pacman -S whatever to install packages. Calling it from any editor could be as simple as changing the PATH. On the other hand, even without cygwin you could use a windows command line package manager such as chocolatey. Everything unix-y is not always good, Windows has some novel ideas too. The main difference is that Windows is more GUI oriented and Unix is text oriented. Windows has APIs and Objects, whereas in a perfect Unix unix world everything needs to be a text stream. I lived in the Unix world for a long time and I still use various BSDs and/or Linux. Yet after years preaching the Unix way, now I think one needs to choose the right tool for the job, there really is no silver bullet. In reality, app development with a real IDE such as Visual Studio or Jetbrains products is much more comfortable for me. It's true that these tools limit your expression, but they also alleviate a lot of mental burden. If I don't have to waste brain cycles on typing commands, flexing my fingers through various M-x C-x positions etc. I seem to be able to write faster and with greater ease. On the other hand the code I write in my text editor is usually very dense and more beautiful to look at. I sometimes compare the situation between living in the Unix world and Windows world with the two fractions in Game of Thrones. Unix people represent the Wildlings, they're brave, free, do not recognize authority, do everything by themselves, live in harsh conditions, yet they are happy because they live a straight-forward and free life. Microsoft people represent the other side of the wall, they're not free, but they have technology, civilization, more population. And there seems to be a great wall between these users.