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It's the default official tool next to the GUI, isn't it? And it's basically the default installation option? I've been using that for a while.
Ya, I'm now sure how you could not find this client when looking for a windows got client.

As an aside, the official git client for windows doesn't play nicely with NTFS symbolic links, which make dealing with sym links a pain in the ass.

Exactly, "I tried lots of clients until I found the official git website and downloaded the officially listed windows version"
GitHub for Windows has a decent git implementation for cli. Uses PowerShell and posh-git though, but a *nix head like me finds it very usable.
To be clear, the author found the git-scm.com website that Scott Chacon (of GitHub) runs, and its package of the Git for Windows project.

This project is as close to an 'official' Windows version as exists, and is really quite good. It's actual homepage is found at http://msysgit.github.com/ if anyone is looking :)

Sadly this 'official' release does not include MinTTY[0] and makes the atrocious cmd.exe the default terminal emulator.

[0]: http://code.google.com/p/mintty/

You can run git bash from the start menu instead of using cmd.
Cmd.exe is twofold:

- a DOS-like shell

- a terminal emulator

Running git bash directly still invokes it inside this terminal emulator, which is the most atrocious piece of crap I've encountered, from font support to encoding to non-realizable width...

Why is this on the front page? There's hardly any Windows dev out there who is in need of git, but couldn't, for a life of it, find a Windows port to use. What am I missing?
I don't get it either. It was only made the default Windows download on www.git-scm.com recently, but msysgit has been around for years.
Especially since this is one of the three default options on the Windows download offered on the official git website...
TL;DR; there exists a git bash command prompt.
I use Cygwin bash with git installed - it doesn't work as well as git bash out of the box (some extra configuration to do), nor will it actually launch git gui without reconfiguring its startup scripts to start an X-server (slow start and shutdown), but it lets you get a mostly full-featured proper shell on Windows.
git bash seems decent, though unless you are working on some *dos thing, if CRLF is set as line endings, it will be a pain (core.autocrlf = false)
Perhaps I'm a minority here, but I found git bash quite awkward on Windows. I instead opted to have git in my path, which meant I could use an ordinary Windows command prompt (but using Console2 which is multi-tabbed), instead of fiddling about with a UNIX command prompt awkwardly shoved into a Windows environment, like some sort of triangular plug in a square hole.
A bit off-topic, but I find ConEmu much nicer than console2:

http://code.google.com/p/conemu-maximus5/

Really nicely customizable.

  smooth and friendly window resizing;
  tabs for editors, viewers, panels and consoles;
  run simple GUI apps in tabs;
  Windows 7 Jump Lists and Progress on Taskbar buttons;
   run old DOS applications (games) in Windows 7 or 64-bit OS;
  thumbnails and tiles in Far Manager;
  normal, maximized and full screen graphical window modes;
  window font anti-aliasing: standard, ClearType, disabled;
  window fonts: family, height, width, bold, italic, etc.;
  using normal/bold/italic fonts for different parts of the console simultaneously;
  Chinese verions of Windows supported;
  using 24-bit colors in Far Manager 3.x;
  ANSI X3.64 and Xterm 256 colors;
  cursor: standard console (horizontal) or GUI (vertical);
  optional per-application settings (e.g. palette);
and you get Quake-console too ;-) (press '~' key)