As mikelacey says, for WinX, Perl IDE is pretty good as is the HTML editor 1stPage. Since perl is a text file, you can use your favorite text editor keeping in mind the platform you'll be installing it on.
VI is the only way to go if you're on a UNIX machine. Most of the complaints I hear about using VI are from those who don't want to take the time to learn VI's power. There's always a better way...