I am developing on Windows XP with a suite of free tools and libraries:
<ul> 
<li> Compiling
 <ul>
  <li><a href="http://www.mingw.org">MinGW</a>
  <BR>MinGW is a set of UNIX like compiler tools and the windows verson of gcc.
  When I got MinGW it was delivered as one large package. I have since
  upgraded the compiler portion of this package. It is now delivered as a set
  of small packages
  <dl>
    <dt>Base</dt>
    <dd>The main suite of tools. This includes make, gdb, etc. Version 2.6</dd>
    <dt>gcc-core and gcc-g++</dt>
    <dd>The gcc compiler for C++. Version 3.4.1</dd>
    <dt>MSYS</dt>
    <dd>UNIX emulator. I use this for building other packages. It brings up a
    UNIX like terminal which can run configure and make. Version 1.0.10</dd>
  </dl>
  <li><a href="extras.zip">Utilities</a>
    <BR>
    This zip contains some UNIX like programs for Windows. It includes bison,
    cp, gzip, make, mv and rm. I don't use this version of make. I use the
    version that comes with MinGW (GNU Make)
  <li><a href="http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=272BE09D-40BB-49FD-9CB0-4BFA122FA91B&displaylang=en">Visual C++</a>
    <BR>
    Microsoft provides a free version of Visual C++. This doesn't include the
    IDE and it is a bit of a pain to use with UNIX makefiles, but I have
    found it to produce slightly smaller and faster code than GCC.
 </ul>
<li> Libraries
 <ul>
  <li><a href="http://www.sqlite.org">SQLite</a>
    <BR>
    SQLite is a free database program that uses SQL like commands to access a
    binary file database. Database calls can be made direclty from a C++
    program or from a stand-alone database access program. Version 3.1.0
  <li><a href="http://www.wxwidgets.org">wxWidgets</a>
    <BR>
    An open source GUI framework. This provides wrapper for nasty looking
    windows calls and makes GUI code mostly cross-platform. I use this
    library as my application framework. It provides functions for event
    handling, multi-threading, openGL in a window, messaging, etc. Version
    2.6
  <li><a href="http://ode.org/">Open Dynamics Engine</a>
    <BR>
    An open source rigid body dynamics simulator. This is the physics engine
    that I use for modeling realistic motion and collisions. Version 0.5
 </ul>
<li> Programs
 <ul>
  <li><a href="http://www.nongnu.org/cvs">CVS</a>
    <BR>
    An open source version control system. Keeps track of my changes and
    allows me to label all my source files with a release number so that I
    can go back to old versions to debug user problems. Version 1.11
  <li><a href="http://www.wincvs.org">winCVS</a>
    <BR>
    Open source GUI front-end for CVS. This application is available for
    windows and Linux. Version 1.2
  <li><a href="http://www.vim.org">gvim</a>
    <BR>
    Graphical VI for windows. VI is of course the best text editor. Version
    6.3
  <li><a href="http://www.gimp.org">GIMP</a>
    <BR>
    GNU Image manipulation program. This allows me to make simple 2D graphics
    and buttons for my applications. Not as good as Photoshop, but it's free.
    Version 2.2
  <li><a href="http://www.chami.com/html-kit/">HTML-Kit</a>
    <BR>
    Free HTML IDE. Provides toolbars with all the HTML codes that I forget
    and has a spell checker for HTML. I use this to build web pages. Version
    5.1
  <li><a href="http://batchftp.netfirms.com">BatchFTP</a>
    <BR>
    Free FTP GUI. Allows you to save off a set of files that need to be
    uploaded. Good for keeping a web site in sync. May not be available
    anymore. Version 6.0.0.9
  <li><a href="http://photoframe.sourceforge.net/?page=install">PhotoFrame</a>
    <BR>
    Free PHP script for building a web page out of a set of photos. Builds a
    set of thumb-nail sized images and can build a medium size image as well.
    Needs a thumb directory created and write permission to that directory
    and the main directory need to be granted.
 </ul>
</ul>