in reply to to reuse or to write my own ?

>> Visual C++ (required for XS modules from CPAN)

I thought I'd just point out the existence of cygwin, a vastly (IMHO) superior command line and perl enviroment for windows including software such as gcc, bash, make, vim and perl. These make it easy to build most modules with the standard cpan shell interface. I have had some trouble with some modules (Win98), but the majority works fine.