At one time I was a fan of MPLAB, now I only use it to read HEX files when someone has a problem.

MCS is OK for quick and dirty stuff, IMHO.

Development platform.. When I am working on a "complicated" project I do it on a Linux box using gedit and BAT files to invoke PBP/MPASM.

But back to the question about programmers. I use the PicKit2 on all platforms.