:) Really, you don't have /dev/null on windows? Use File::Spec->devnull

naturally fixing those portability issues , select loop is forever

use File::Spec();

sub launch {
   my ($id) = @_;
   open(local *TO_CHILD, '<', File::Spec->devnull ) or die $!;
   *TO_CHILD if 0;
   my $pid = open3(
      '<&TO_CHILD',
      my $from_child = gensym(),
      '>&STDERR',
#~       perl => ( -e => 'use Time::HiRes qw( sleep ); $|=1; for (1..r
+and(10)+5) { sleep(0.100 + rand(100)/1000); print "a" }' ),

      $^X => ( -e => 'use Time::HiRes qw( sleep ); $|=1; for (1..rand(
+10)+5) { sleep(0.100 + rand(100)/1000); print q{a} }' ),
   );
   return { id => $id, pid => $pid, pipe => $from_child, buf => '' };
}
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Perl version: v5.14.1 on MSWin32
Carp               - 1.26
Devel::VersionDump - 0.02
Exporter           - 5.66
File::Spec         - 3.33
File::Spec::Unix   - 3.33
File::Spec::Win32  - 3.33
IO::Select         - 1.20
IPC::Open3         - 1.09
Symbol             - 1.07
constant           - 1.21
strict             - 1.04
vars               - 1.02
warnings           - 1.12
warnings::register - 1.02