Serious question: who on Windows is really using text editors? If you're a programmer using Windows, chances are good you're using a Microsoft stack and thus very likely Visual Studio. For me, text editors on Windows are nothing more than scratch pads.

Maybe I'm just biased, but if you're not using Microsoft technology it seems like you'd be better off with a Unix-like OS, where awesome text editors are plentiful. Maybe there really are enough people out there using non-MS tech but still prefer Windows?

After using Windows and UltraEdit for quite some time and switching to a Mac last year, I found myself missing some of the flexibility and "familiarity" offered by UE. Clearly, overtime, I moved on to other editors, but learning the new tools took time. Was it time worth spending? Probably -- but it was also unproductive time. If a Mac version of UE was available last year, I would have been my first purchase just to ease the transition.

Overall, this is a great opportunity for IDM to capitalize on the large share of developers switching from Mac to Windows. IDM also recently released a native Linux version as well and is dedicated to producing native versions of UE on all three platforms. I really hope they are successful and that more software vendors begin following a similar path. Adobe anyone ;)

Plenty of programmers run Windows without being tied to a Microsoft stack; web developers, for example.

Believe it or not, there are many people who prefer Windows - while Unix-like OSes may be better for some things, many people use the same computer for a wide range of things, programming being just one of them.

I'm an example of this. I'm a .NET web developer but if I need to make a quick view (css/html/etc) change, I'll fire up Notepad++. It's way faster than firing up good ol' VS. NP++ is also good for more complicated/repetitive text editing.

I'm also a .NET developer. But your usage there to me falls under what I called "scratch pad". As in NP++ is not your main means of writing code. I always have NP++ running so I can throw things into it as needed.

Serious question: Are there really that many web devs who don't use a *nix? It seems to me, as an outsider, MS web stacks are relatively rare. I would think it would be easier to work on the platform you are deploying on.

I believe what gmurphy is referring to is the dev machine, not server.

Yes, I know of many web devs (myself included) who use windows on my personal machine, with a lamp/RoR stack, and then host on linux boxes.

Fair enough. I was truly just asking the question, not trying to inject judgment into it (although I guess some judgment was inevitable).

Me. I use Notepad++. About every 3 weeks I try to find a better on but I keep coming back to Notepad++.

I also use FlashDevelop for AS3 work - its very nice.

btw, I also have a Mac and Linux box on my desk but I stick to Windows - I've tried a bunch of editors on those platforms and I prefer editing on Windows (although I do cheat a little and use msys for fast greps).

I'm one of those idiots (happily, for the most part) running windows as a desktop OS. I use the ancient Codewright editor (and ultraedit). Mostly embedded stuff, so no VS here. My primary toolchain (closed source proprietary stuff) doesn't run under linux, so windows it is.