For those of us who prefer our slashes forward and our source open, Cygwin offers a Linux-like environment for the Windows platform. Cygwin gives you both that Linux look and feel, and an API that provides POSIX system call functions. This allows you not only to raise your environmental comfort level, but also gives you the ability to port existing Linux applications to your Windows/Cygwin system, or write new applications that take advantage of the best from both worlds.