ActiveState perl already understands that slashes and backslashes are equivalent for most modules. This is not to say everything in CPAN will be friendly, but in all of my Windows scripts I just use "/" like normal -- and I haven't had any problems unless I am sending something to the shell.

In the rare cases where I had to do this, a simple fix_path function is usually sufficient to insert (which turns slashes into backslashes). I *do* need to look at File::Spec and others in these cases, but in general, conciseness is important to me when it can be done without causing problems. And when only dealing with Windows, Linux, and basic Unix systems, this is good enough for me. I'll capitulate when I have to port to something more obscure, I'm sure.