You get conflicts with DLLs built with kLIBC and EMX, things like z are a common cause of problems. Try running Gnome or QT apps (X version) with slashes instead of backslashes in %HOME% and it'll fail. Generally you're right about using regular slashes but some porters fix things that maybe shouldn't have been fixed
Yes, the port was a quick hack and I'm sure I made mistakes as well as the Xserver never did get built as it was beyond my skill level as I'm not really a programmer.