My experience using Strawberry has been quite uneventful. It is very much like the Linux and OS/X environments that I am more-generally used to.

Nevertheless, I also feel like I understand the slightly-different business objective that the ActiveState team is shooting for. And as such, they seem to be doing well. I really don't think that the two approaches can be reconciled (it would kind-of defeat the purpose, of both of them, at once). Both teams seem to know what they are going for, and both of them seem to be doing a top-flight job serving their particular audiences.

I guess it really depends upon how your business objectives sync-up with what ActiveState is trying to do; what your personal comfort/expertise level is. Are the particular things that “they are trying to make easy,” and is the particular way that they are trying to do it, “good with” what you are trying to do here? That's really what your decision will consist of.

“It's all Perl. Therfore, it's all good.™”