This is the utilities download that works fine on XP SP3.
http://sourceforge.net/projects/unxutils/files/latest/download
Get the updates at URL,
http://unxutils.sourceforge.net/
Get the file "UnxUpdates.zip".
Combine the updates with the earlier utilities and you have a full working set of unix utilities.
These have worked fine for me for years.
Is this supposed to be a Cygwin [http://cygwin.com/] alternative?
i saw a gnu, once :P
it was standing next to an ibex
You would not install cygwin on a Windows box for a bet. No, MIT has been around for a lot longer than cygwin.