#/usr/bin/perl -w
use strict;

my $pid = fork();
die "fork() failed: $!" unless defined $pid;
if ($pid) 
{
    print "I am the child pid =$pid...\n";
    
    while (1)
    {
      `ping 127.0.0.1 -n 5 > nul`; 
              # sleep() won't work on Windows in multiple threads
              # the pid is a negative number and this a 
              # thread (fork emulation)
              # there is Windows "weirdness" with sleep
              # here I started a command that will "wait"
              # for awhile before returning. 
              # this is inefficent, but appears to work
              
       print  "I am still the child  ". localtime()."\n";
    }    
}
else
{
   print "I am the parent\n";
   
   while (sleep(2))
   {
       print "I am still the parent ". localtime(), "\n";
   }
}

__END__
C:\TEMP>perl client_server.pl
I am the child pid =-5428...
I am the parent
I am still the parent Sat Aug 25 20:29:13 2012
I am still the parent Sat Aug 25 20:29:15 2012
I am still the child  Sat Aug 25 20:29:16 2012
I am still the parent Sat Aug 25 20:29:17 2012
I am still the parent Sat Aug 25 20:29:19 2012
I am still the child  Sat Aug 25 20:29:20 2012
I am still the parent Sat Aug 25 20:29:21 2012
I am still the parent Sat Aug 25 20:29:23 2012
I am still the child  Sat Aug 25 20:29:24 2012
I am still the parent Sat Aug 25 20:29:25 2012
I am still the parent Sat Aug 25 20:29:27 2012
I am still the child  Sat Aug 25 20:29:28 2012
I am still the parent Sat Aug 25 20:29:29 2012
Terminating on signal SIGINT(2)
#I hit CTL-C in the command window...
#the parent was running in the foreground...