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"Initially, I tried to work with Windows 7. It really is not bad at all, but my brain seems to be hardwired to use a Unix command line (and Vim) at this point, so after a while, I had enough and sought refuge in Linux-land."

Have you tried Cygwin? I've been using it for years, with no problems. Unix command line goodness in Windows.

Also, you can install vim from the Cygwin packages, or install native Windows vim. Both solutions work well.

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I have used Cygwin for a while, yes. However, I found it to be slow and just... alien, from a Windows perspective. My main gripe with it was a different thing though: Its package management is atrocious. Packages are outdated and there is no simple way to fix them. Also, it installs its own versions of common software, that are only usable from within Cygwin, but not from CMD. Honestly though, I never bothered to investigate further after being annoyed by it a few times, and just used a Linux VM instead.

Gvim works fine on Windows, though. Also, ViEmu has had my love for many months. It's not like you can't work productively in Windows. It's just that I am more comfortable elsewhere.

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