As a Windows user that needs to hack around every now and then, I can't recommend enough having something like cmder (or just Conemu) plus Vagrant (and a Ubuntu VM, for example) or a playground on a cheap VPS like DigitalOcean. You get to use Windows and Linux at the same time without any major cons.
I also use Windows + Linux VM. Virtually all development happens in the VM.
Since I don't need to run anything other than a bunch of terminals in the VM, I can use a lightweight DE that is lightening-fast and very light on resources. A few more tweaks, and you can make LXTerminal feel almost like a native Windows program.
Add a few Windows gizmos to that, like Dexpot for multiple desktops and crazy keyboard shortcuts. Now you've got a top-notch DE that no FOSS offering can rival so far (at least in my opinion).
I have to use a windows machine at work and I've settled on cygwin, console2, sublimetext, and vagrant. Ubuntu at home, but I love the VM workflow so much that I've switched over; it has an obscene number of benefits for a low amount of upfront work. Every morning I pull changes if I need to, cd /to/the/project, vagrant up && vagrant ssh, and I'm in a perfectly configured dev machine. Work on ~2007 Dells and its smooth as silk.
