Your constant mentioning of cygwin tells me its been a long time since you've dipped your feet in microsoft OSes. Windows 7 has an extension called Subsystem for UNIX-based Applications (SUA) that basically makes a full POSIX compatible layer and a full shell (and you can install all your GNU tools).

I think they pulled an OSX and embraced and extended to deny cygwin their market. Typical. But whatever you think about the strategy, SUA works really well.