On the contrary, there is very big reason not choose to run OpenACS on
Windows unless you really need too: Nearly no one else does.
Virtually everyone hacking on OpenACS runs it on Linux or some other
Unix-like system. Yes, it's entirely possible to run OpenACS on
Windows, but it has its own difficulties which as a newbie, you're
probably best off avoiding.
Also, Jamie did not necessarily write up everything you need
to know about running OpenACS on Windows. He has said himself that
even the
newer version
of his docs are not entirely complete. If you use his old compiled
binaries of everything, his info is likely to have everything you
need. However, if you need anything that's not there though (like say
the latest bug-fixed version of nsopenssl), you will be right back
into the "mucking with the infrastructure" hell which you were trying
to avoid in the first place. Except now you'll be doing it on Windows
where fewer people can help you. (I do use AOLserver on Windows
regularly - although not OpenACS - so I have some idea what I'm
talking about here.)
Now, there is a nontrivial amount of infrastructure setup work to get
the software OpenACS needs installed and working. This is true even
if you are familar with Unix, but is obviously much worse if you are
not.
Glenn, therefore, as others mentioned above, the fastest and easiest
way for you to get up to speed is probably to use John Sequeira's
VMware image with everything pre-installed. You can run that VMware
image on Windows or Linux, your choice. And since everything is
pre-installed, you get to focus on learning OpenACS development right
off, rather than learning the annoying sysadmin side of things. (You
can go back and learn that stuff later, as needed.)
In some ways, the VMware image is much better than even someone
handing you an actual Linux box with everything pre-installed, because
you can move the image back and forth between your Windows laptop and
Linux server, if you seriously break anything you can just revert the
entire image to your last saved snapshot, etc.
Another good alternative might be the Knoppix live-CD Linux images
somebody made (Malte?), again with OpenACS pre-installed.
Note that I'm recommending the OpenACS VMware images or Live CDs even
though I've never tried them myself. In the old aD Bootcamps, you
showed up on Monday and sat down in front of an already working ACS
system that someone else had installed, and I found that a good way to
start learning how to actually write code with the toolkit. And being
handed a virtual machine with everything you need for OpenACS
pre-installed is pretty similar to that bootcamp setup.
Going with a Dev server at Acorn Hosting is also a good suggestion, as
that completely elimintes the "install Linux" work, and should
eliminate much (but not all) of the "install software and get stock
OpenACS up and running" work as well.
