title: Costs and benefits of Linux-like Windows development environment
body: <p>I'm taking an <em>Introduction to C++</em> this semester, so I need to set up development environments in both my Windows and Ubuntu partitions (I switch between them). I was planning to use GCC in both environments for consistency and because I plan to do my serious C++ developing in Linux with GCC. </p>
  
  <p>It appears that installing MSYS and MinGW is the best way to use GCC and replicate my Linux dev environment. However, just setting up MSYS and MinGW in Windows appears to be a long and arduous process, and I'm imagining that I will have limitations or compatibility problems in the future. </p>
  
  <ul>
  <li>Do the benefits of setting up a MSYS Linux-like development environment on Windows outweigh the costs?</li>
  <li>Will I be able to use all the libraries that I could if I were using Visual C++?</li>
  </ul>