**Why?**

Depending on your source the Intel compiler is likely or most definitely the compiler generating the fastest executables for the x86 architecture (5 to 100 % execution time improvement).

Intel offers its compilers for Linux under a non-commercial license for free (I think I read it is free somewhere on their page: [Intel - Non-Commercial Software Development][1]).
There is also a free non-commercial license for students, but this license is not applicable although tools are offered for all three major operating systems (link dropped  due to reputation restriction).

**Goal**

I (as a non-student) would like to be able to use the Intel compilers for possible execution speed improvements under the non-commercial license to compile object files that can be linked to create executables and dynamic link libraries for Windows (and possibly OS X)

**More Details:**

What I inferred from [this][2] document is that the Intel compilers create object files that are compatible to the dominant compilers of the platform.

**Sub-questions:**

 1. What are the object file formats of gcc, g++, cl, mingw32, icc, icpc, and icl on Windows and Linux (current versions)?
 2. *Could parts of the mingw32 cross-compiler toolchain be used to accomplish the goal?*
 3. Am I right that the metadata in the generated object files is the main issue?

ad 2:<br/>
mingw32-objcopy seems to be able to convert the Intel compiler output on Linux (presumably ELF) to Microsoft-compatible COFF (with the possible exception of relocateable object files). Could someone confirm that this actually works (for non-trivial applications), please?


  [1]: http://software.intel.com/en-us/non-commercial-software-development "Non-Commercial Software Development"
  [2]: http://software.intel.com/sites/products/documentation/studio/composer/en-us/2011Update/compiler_c/optaps/common/optaps_par_compat_libs_using.htm "Using the OpenMP Libraries"