[Mingw-users] MinGW vs. SFU as development environment?

[Dominique O. <Dom...@po...>]

Hello,

I may have missed the train, but i very recently realized that Microsoft 
released its Services For Unix on its website at
http://www.microsoft.com/windows/sfu/default.asp
I believed this was pay software. The licensing must not be very 
permissive, but i haven't explored that yet.

In general terms, i was wondering what the differences were between 
MinGW/MSYS and SFU as Unix-like development environments in Windows? The 
first thing i notice is the size of SFU! Is it also 
'autoconfig/automake'-based? What would you say the (dis)advantages of 
both are and what does one address that the other doesn't?

I apologize if this question has been asked before, and i also apologize 
for its vagueness. Thank you in advance for any comments.

Dominique