title: Is XAMPP (for Windows) preferred over WampServer? If so, why?
body: <p>It seems lots of answers to questions about getting started in web development include "install <a href="http://www.apachefriends.org/en/xampp.html" rel="nofollow noreferrer">XAMPP</a>", even when the platform is Windows.  Meanwhile, <a href="http://www.wampserver.com/en/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">WampServer</a> doesn't seem to be mentioned often.  I've used both XAMPP and WampServer (admittedly, WampServer much more) and think they are both fine.  So, is XAMPP preferred?  If it is, why?</p>
  
  <p>I realize that Perl comes with XAMPP, but this bias seems to exist even when PHP is the only programming language in question.</p>
  
  <p><a href="https://stackoverflow.com/questions/105546/xampp-and-wamp-in-the-lamp-whats-the-best">This question</a> seems related, but the answers don't really get to the core of why XAMPP seems preferred over WAMP.  (And is also a bit stale.)</p>
  
  <p><strong>Update (May 30, 2012):</strong>  <a href="http://www.infoworld.com/d/application-development/review-wamp-stacks-web-developers-194346?source=IFWNLE_nlt_entwindows_2012-05-30" rel="nofollow noreferrer">This article</a>, points to more packages to try out.  <a href="http://www.ampps.com/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">AMPSS</a> was the author's choice for ease of use and extensibility.  However, one of the more specialized <a href="http://bitnami.org/stacks" rel="nofollow noreferrer">BitNami stacks</a> may be better for some situations.  WampServer and XAMPP still got good marks.</p>