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Graphical Linux Apps Are Coming to Windows Subsystem for Linux (zdnet.com) 89

ZDNet reports: At the Microsoft Build 2020 virtual developers' conference, CEO Satya Nadella announced that Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL) 2.0 would soon support Linux GUIs and applications. That day is closer now than ever before. At the recent X.Org Developers Conference, Microsoft partner developer lead Steve Pronovost revealed that Microsoft has made it possible to run graphical Linux applications within WSL.

It's always been possible to run Linux graphical programs such as the GIMP graphics editor, Evolution e-mail client, and LibreOffice on WSL. But it wasn't easy. You had to install a third-party X Window display server, such as the VcXsrv Windows X Server in Windows 10, and then do some tuning with both Windows and Linux to get them to work together smoothly. The X Window System underlies almost all Linux graphical user interfaces. Now, Microsoft has ported a Wayland display server to WSL. Wayland is the most popular X Window compatible server. In WSL2, it connects the graphical Linux applications via a Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP) connection to the main Windows display. This means you can run Linux and Windows GUI applications simultaneously on the same desktop screen....

Craig Loewen, Microsoft WSL Program Manager, added in a Twitter thread that the key differences between using a third-party X server and the built-in Wayland server is that: "You don't need to start up or start the server, we'll handle that for you." In addition, it comes with "Lovely integration with Windows," such as drop shadows and Linux icon support. Loewen also said you can run a Linux web browser in it. "We haven't tested it extensively with a full desktop environment yet, as we want to focus on running often asked for apps first, and primarily IDEs [integrated development environment] so you can run those in a full Linux environment," he said.

Don't get too excited about it just yet, though. Loewen continued, "We don't yet have an ETA for the beta channel, however, this work will be available in general for Insiders to try within the next couple of months."

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Graphical Linux Apps Are Coming to Windows Subsystem for Linux

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  • I keep tellin ya! (Score:2, Interesting)

    by Nabeel_co ( 1045054 )

    It's gonna happen!

    Microsoft is going to replace the NT kernel with the Linux Kernel with some additions to be able to answer windows system calls, and Explorer will be rewritten to run on Linux!

    It's gonna happen!

    • The productivity apps are easy, what are they going to do about Windows games?

      • Re:I keep tellin ya! (Score:4, Interesting)

        by martynhare ( 7125343 ) on Saturday October 03, 2020 @01:19PM (#60568616)
        Proton has started to get most Windows-based DRM-protected games working from syscall support dealt with entirely in user-space via the Wine project. The compatibility is amazing and even includes full support for Steam achievements, workshop content and multiplayer integration. It's a key reason that I purchase all my games on Steam, as I know that there is always another option that will be kept working, should Microsoft drop support for legacy ABIs. LKML discussions were had in June 2020 about adding a kernel-side personality for Win32 to accommodate the few kernel-side changes which will be needed to intercept Windows system calls when executing Windows binaries. So if Microsoft wanted to get involved, they could open source older core Windows libraries which haven't changed in a while to remove the need for the Wine/Proton projects to implement bug-for-bug compatibility. I suspect they will start doing that eventually for legacy things like Visual Basic.

        The irony is that the main concern stopping me and most other gamers using Linux isn't compatibility, it's actually the performance hit from translating DirectX to Vulkan/OpenGL calls. It adds up to anywhere from 25% to a 50% reduction in performance when combined with user-space handling of Windows system calls inside of wineserver. There's also the fact that graphics on Linux is still single-threaded after all these years as a result of X11. Even with Wayland, GNOME Shell is still a single-threaded compositor, which is why they're working on a massive rewrite to fix things. With that said, Microsoft could still open-source big chunks of older Direct3D versions to allow the official native libraries to be merged in with Mesa, improving compatibility vastly and allowing Mesa and Wine projects to work together to bring fully native Direct3D support without a translation layer in between, fixing a large part of the performance problems.

        Right now, the reason I still use Windows is because it outperforms Linux by a massive margin, while guaranteeing all software I use will keep working going forward. The moment you add all the security checks Windows does (digital signature checking of all binaries, anti-malware checks, per-application firewalling, behavioural analysis) to Linux, the speed benefits diminish greatly. The moment you try to add proper per-application ABI compliance to a fully updated Linux distribution, the RAM use (compared to Windows) skyrockets. Windows has multi-GPU scheduling and the ability to transparently pin specific jobs to go to a specific graphics card based upon performance needs, while Linux doesn't yet have a decent GPU scheduling algorithm for dealing with even a single GPU.

        Microsoft can only move their workloads to Linux once all the required bits are present and they won't be for a good 10-15 years because while the Linux kernel gets a lot of love, the rest of the desktop stack is practically on life support.
        • What is the long term future of Windows gaming? Is Windows going to devolve into ChromeOS+DirectX?

          • You mean PC gaming. There will always be a market for high-end games which work close to hardware, as long as valve doesn't develop a console once and for all.

        • by Sin2x ( 1189089 )
          73% of Gold and higher rated games is not "amazing", it's adequate. Take a look here: https://www.protondb.com/ [protondb.com]
          • by vux984 ( 928602 )

            Where did you get 73% from? The "Top Thousand" graph on the protondb site showing "73% gold++"

            That needs some unpacking.
            59 unrated
            7 % borked
            64% bronze+
            59% silver+
            49% gold+
            19% - platinum
            25% - native

            The true numbers are:
            unrated 6%
            borked 7%
            bronze 5%
            silver 10%
            gold 30%
            platinum 19%
            native 25%

            total 102% - I'll assume round off error accounts for that

            Although linux native games is definitely a metric gamers are interested in and it obviously affects the number of games they'll be able to play on linux, and how well

            • And it still doesn't block the swastika guy, but they took away anonymous posting completely, to no effect except alienating regular users.

              This should tell you that Slashdot is run by white supremacists.

              • oh, and they banned the word n a z i.

                • oh, and they banned the word n a z i.

                  Apparently they didn't ban it hard enough if putting spaces in between the letters is enough to slip it past the filters.

                  I guess you gotta forgive the admins. Perl is an abysmal language.

                  • I guess you gotta forgive the admins. Perl is an abysmal language.

                    I never tackled perl but pattern-matching regexp is said to be the language's strength.

                    The website is borked because since Malda left, the current owners have let the code rot. Slashcode seems to run better on other websites.

            • What are you smoking? I said that only 73% of the games are Gold and higher, and that's not perfect enough to switch to Linux for gaming overall. And that's only old games, who's going to port the new ones and how much time is that going to take? Bottom line: Windows is still king for gaming and that is unlikely to change.
              • by vux984 ( 928602 )

                I didn't say otherwise. And in fact I argued that proton isn't as good as the metrics seem to say, because a good portion of the games in that 73% were linux native, and weren't even using proton.

        • by tratson ( 523572 )

          Right now, the reason I still use Windows is because it outperforms Linux by a massive margin

          On what basis did you make this statement? In my testing, many Windows games perform better on my Manjaro system than on Windows 10. In fact, the only games that didn't perform better were ones that won't run on Linux due to DRM. You aren't going to try to convince me that MariaDB, LibreOffice or the Gimp run faster on Windows than on Linux are you? Windows may be more convenient for YOU but faster I think not.

          • On the basis of personal experience. Ever tried copying large amounts of files to/from USB drives and had the whole UI lock up at random? That problem was introduced around 2.6.38 still occurs to this very day despite multiple attempts by kernel developers to fix it - that's a critical problem that's now over 9 years old. It's a kernel memory management issue which no-one seems to care enough about to sort. Try adding real-time anti-virus to the mix and you don't even need a USB drive to freeze the system
        • Microsoft are already using parts of the Mesa graphics stack [techrepublic.com] to implement WSL2.

          I don't think it's likely that Windows will dump the NT kernel. But I could see them further outsourcing parts the graphics layer in favour of Mesa and associated technologies. e.g. if they ever choose to support Windows on ARM64 on anything other than Qualcomm, they get GL and Vulkan support for Mali, Tegra, Vivante and Videocore by reusing drivers already community-developed for various Linux-based single board computers.

          fre

      • I imagine XBSL. It'll be freely available but only work with the XB PCIe card and WSL both present. Eventually, in response to customer demand, the XB PCIe card will evolve into a daughter card fitting a slot on "gaming" graphics cards.
      • The productivity apps are easy, what are they going to do about Windows games?

        The productivity apps are largely already on Windows (and macOS) natively. LibreOffice, Gimp, etc

        X Windows and OpenGL support are all MS really needs to worry about. Other stuff likely uses GUI toolkits that are already cross-platform and support Windows. Ex Qt.

    • It may, over the long term, but they're still investing in keeping people using their kernel with all this WSL stuff.

    • by kmoser ( 1469707 )
      Resistance is futile.
    • Windows NT is a more technically advanced hybrid kernel unlike Linux's monolith. Nobody would ever switch to the worse technology. If anything, Windows usage is only going to increase since there is no need to run Linux for development when you can have it running from Windows. Linux will become a server-only OS.
      • Since Windows lost the server market it is questionable if it is worth dedicating staff at MS to continue development on the NT kernel forever. Working on the NT kernel requires skilled staff that may be more profitably deployed elsewhere. Browsers have greatly lessened the importance of the desktop OS.

      • Nobody would ever switch to the worse technology.

        Yeah--nobody will Windows and their licensing bullshit to run software on an inferior Linux or BSD kernel for free.

      • Um... you're conflating ideas. Just because the NT Kernel does more, it doesn't make it better.

        The NT Kernel is riddled with bloat and bugs.

        • by Sin2x ( 1189089 )
          I'm not talking about doing more. It's the architecture of the kernel -- monolithic vs hybrid. > The NT Kernel is riddled with bloat and bugs. That needs to be proven. OS components and system drivers may have bugs, but the kernel itself is very much sound.
    • It's gonna happen! Microsoft is going to replace the NT kernel with the Linux Kernel with some additions to be able to answer windows system calls, and Explorer will be rewritten to run on Linux!. It's gonna happen!

      Nope.
      1. There is no advantage technologically.
      2. If they were to replace the NT kernel with a *nix kernel if would be BSD. As Apple did, and likely for the same reason, keep most of the API and GUI code away from GPL'd code. They don't want accidental entanglements like they had with Hyper-V.
      3. There is no real offloading of software development. The NT kernel is a small part of Microsoft's software development effort, they would be replacing that effort with adding features and debugging the Linux kerne

    • And it's already Yo Dawg inception.

      I heard you wanted a window in your Linux, so I put Linux in your Windows so you can windows while you Windows.
    • by gweihir ( 88907 )

      It is very clear it is going to happen. MS has all but abandoned Win10 by now. The quality of their maintenance shows this clearly.

    • Been saying they should do this for 20 years

  • ... Extend ...

    [ Ya know, I always thought there'd be a good penis joke somewhere in the whole EEE [wikipedia.org] thing.
    Which would also go well with MS fucking people over ... Just sayin' ]

  • Windows, or the linux version?

    Yeah, I know, trick question, linux firefox I guess. /s

  • by passionplay ( 607862 ) on Saturday October 03, 2020 @12:55PM (#60568544)
    Graphical programs aside, we don't have a SSH option for wayland. X.org does. Wayland isn't the MOST POPULAR X server. It's the most popular COMPATIBLE X server. The insidiousness of this post is sad. Wayland is great if you don't need to do remote graphical applications.
    • by ptaff ( 165113 )

      It's the most popular COMPATIBLE X server

      And even for that, you gotta say "compatible" quickly while looking the other way.

    • Wayland is not the place for a wire protocol. On the other hand, X imposes a wire protocol on apps that don't require it. The common case for X is local graphics, and Wayland does that way better. On the other hand, if you want remote display, you'd be better off starting with Chromium/Electron as a basis for the display end and writing a higher level protocol than X.

      • by serviscope_minor ( 664417 ) on Saturday October 03, 2020 @02:25PM (#60568752) Journal

        Wayland is not the place for a wire protocol.

        So the Wayland devs claim.

        On the other hand, X imposes a wire protocol on apps that don't require it.

        Something that is in fact invisible to 99% of developers. Local X programs are very fast.

        The common case for X is local graphics, and Wayland does that way better.

        [citation needed] on that "way better" bit. It can't really be way better because X works pretty well and Wayland has failed to displace it in 11 years despite being the pet project of the X developers. It is at most a tiny little bit better, but that is greatly up for debate.

        On the other hand, if you want remote display, you'd be better off starting with Chromium/Electron as a basis for the display end and writing a higher level protocol than X.

        "better off" how? I wouldn't say having to implement an remoting system from scratch for every program is really better than having something that works automatically with every single existing current and historic program out of the box, including proprietary ones that I couldn't modify even if I had a mind to. Also, better off with electron?? That thing is a massive, massive hog. I definitely want to replace all my X programs which take up positively megabytes of RAM with electron ones hogging gigabytes a piece.

        • GTK supports HTML5 display out of the box, which is a lot more efficient than X remoting https://developer.gnome.org/gt... [gnome.org] and doesn't take up gigabytes of RAM. Also, there's nothing stopping a Wayland compositor from drawing to an offscreen buffer which can be remotely transmitted using a bandwidth efficient protocol, a bit like how RDP uses an off-screen WinTerm and supports standalone apps via RemoteApp today.

          I suspect we will see a more complete Wayland compositor ready for production use with full
          • HTML5 efficient? Doesn't take gigabytes of ram?

            You don't remember what native desktop programs were like, do you?

            And anyway that's nice that GTK 5 has it, but what about QT and all the efficient, fast and reasonably well debugged programs pejoratively referred to as "legacy"?

            I like also how after 11 years of Wayland just not quite being as goods as X, the reason it's really better really is because of a future hypothetical feature it doesn't yet have. How long will that take? Another 22 years?

    • we don't have a SSH option for wayland

      Except that MS is layering it with a wire protocol:

      In WSL2, it connects the graphical Linux applications via a Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP) connection

      Though whether this means that you can connect directly to a WSL2 instance in a Windows Server is not mentioned.

      But this is still putting the Linux desktop in a window on the MS Windows desktop.

      Back in the 90s, I remember using a program (from a company with "Hummingbird" in its name) that would 1-to-1 map X Windows windows to MS Windows windows. It even supported copy/paste between MS Windows applications and X Windows applications - even ones running on o

      • There are quite a few good Win32 (or I guess Win64 now...) X Servers available, both Free and non, and both free and not.

  • by bb_matt ( 5705262 ) on Saturday October 03, 2020 @12:56PM (#60568548)

    Even 5 years ago, that would be laughable. A decade ago it was the stuff of insane fiction.

    I believe this ongoing experimentation with Linux that Microsoft is clearly besotted with, has an end goal - to ultimately move Windows to *nix.
    It does actually make a great deal of sense - as iOS and Android make gargantuan inroads into the mobile space, when compared to Microsofts failed efforts, the obvious choice is to move where the applications are going.

    To me, it seems fairly evident that Microsoft is carefully heading in the *nix direction - yep, there are some crazy people out there still convinced Microsoft wants to kill Linux and Open Source - to each their own.
    The windows platform starts to make less sense in a world of distributed applications able to run on a myriad of devices - and, well, *nix is just better...

    • by perpenso ( 1613749 ) on Saturday October 03, 2020 @03:59PM (#60569008)

      Microsoft is clearly besotted with, has an end goal - to ultimately move Windows to *nix.

      Nope, the goal is to keep developers and users on Windows. Microsoft is making sure the *nix toolchain works under Windows so developers stay on Windows. Much like macOS offering a *nix toolchain via their BSD environment made it an attractive alternative to Linux. With macOS and Windows+WSL2 offering the *nix toolchain various developers and users get the best of both worlds. The commercial software ecosystems and the *nix toolchain.

      The Linux kernel offers no technological advantage over the NT kernel. Yet it would expose all the API and GUI code to risk via the GPL. Like Apple, Microsoft will want to keep the bulk of their code proprietary. So if there was a need to switch to a *nix kernel it would be BSD. Of course there is no such need because the NT kernel is mature and capable. Apple had to go BSD because they were still on the 1980'ish legacy Mac OS with no protection, no real multithreading, etc. So you really have it reversed. The time for MS to go *nix kernel was long long ago, in Win3x days.

      Face it, macOS with BSD made Linux less necessary and less interesting for many. And now Windows plus WSL2 is doing the same for another Linux segment. Linux today is for servers and embedded. Linux on the Desktop has become Linux on the Microsoft Windows Desktop. A lot of people want *nix utilities and tools. MS and Apple now deliver these, standalone bootable Linux is less necessary nowadays. Speaking as someone who has been dual booting Linux and Windows on PCs since '93.

      • It's basically because Node doesn't work on Windows very well, and even Microsoft devs prefer Node over their homegrown tools.
      • It does not matter if GPL threatens to take away the proprietary aspects of Windows when all software is served remotely and no one is willing to pay for an OS anymore.

        If Microsoft were concerned about future revenues from Windows they would not have begun selling their own hardware, which threatens their relationships with hardware vendors. They want to sell devices directly, and then control all the servers these devices connect to. They just released an Android device, after all. Windows is becoming more

      • Linux on the Desktop has become Linux on the Microsoft Windows Desktop.

        This would not go down well with the software developers at work. I believe Linux desktops are the norm for them. We used to ship our software on Windows, but it is almost all Linux now. I dare say they have Windows for testing, if we need to ship software for Windows. In my department, which is engineering and hardware, we also run all our stuff on Linux.

        • No solution is 100% applicable to all. However you will find an awful lot of developers who need to target both Windows and Linux. And Linux on Windows Desktop is a great convenience for them. Hence, as macOS with BSD reduced interest in Linux as a standalone OS, so does Windows plus WSL2.

          I've been dual booting since 1993. Not because I want Linux but because I sometimes want *nix utilities and tools. That is where I think many developers are. They are not into Linux because of the politics, the revoluti
    • by AmiMoJo ( 196126 )

      Why would they bother? They have a system that runs Windows and Linux apps, why re-write it? They have decades of compatibility stuff in there and in the past small changes in behaviour have caused big problems.

      What would they gain? Most of the security issues are in the user land stuff and switching kernel will introduce a load more as the security model changes. They would end up at the whims of the Linux kernel maintainers too.

      There just doesn't seem to be any compelling reason to do it.

    • by mabinogi ( 74033 )

      WSL2 is actually a step _away_ from moving to a Linux Kernel.

      WSL1 had Linux as an actual subsystem alongside the Win64 subsystem.

      WSL2 is just a VM with some filesystem integration. It's more separated from Windows that it was in the past.

    • by drolli ( 522659 )

      I disagree. In the moment when all linux tools run smooth on windows and ths possibility to turn off a lot of the cloud things still exists, my next personal primary laptop may run windows (and that has not happened since ~ 1997).

  • ...Graphical Linux Apps Are Coming to Windows Subsystem for Linux...

    You know, Linux applications have been known to be inherently ugly. Not my words... [blogspot.com]

  • by El_Muerte_TDS ( 592157 ) on Saturday October 03, 2020 @01:04PM (#60568586) Homepage

    They still haven't fixed the time desync issue, and the problem with the Linux kernel performing caching and thereby claiming RAM from Windows. No, limiting WSL2 RAM to 50% of the system is not a fix.

  • Run a Linux program on Windows on Linux... Let's throw in a layer of Java

    • by Ambassador Kosh ( 18352 ) on Saturday October 03, 2020 @01:40PM (#60568646)

      The NT kernel was built for this kind of thing. Win32, Win64, OS/2, posix, wsl etc are all just different subsystems on the NT kernel. It is actually a pretty impressive kernel overall. It is why WSL has no CPU performance overhead.

      • Yep, true. But from what I understand, WSL2 is now a virtualized Linux system running on a specialized version of HyperV. The benefit is that this gives them full compatibility, which makes new features like this easier to implement.

        https://docs.microsoft.com/en-... [microsoft.com]

        • Windows itself runs inside a specialised version of Hyper-V these days (unless you opt-out) so it makes sense that they'd run it as a paravirtualised kernel running alongside Windows. The only parts they're missing to make this as seamless as WSL1 are hypercalls to access to the Windows network stack (bypassing Linux's native stack) and to efficiently share access to USB devices. Microsoft also seem to be working on doing this the other way around (using Linux as a Hyper-V host OS) so this all makes good se
      • by DrXym ( 126579 )
        NT used to have a Posix subsystem but it was hot garbage. Services for Unix was the thing you installed to use it and it was such a bloated, antiquated piece of crap you'd regret even bothering.

        WSL is somewhat different. It emulates the syscalls of a Linux kernel so the userland thinks it's running in Linux but everything is mapped. It's very neat to be able to just type "bash" in a console and have a running Linux instance.

    • by DrXym ( 126579 )
      I run Linux on Windows and it's incredibly handy - I can build & debug for Windows and Linux from the same desktop. I was even cross-compiling stuff to ARM the other day under WSL.

      It's not the first time this has been possible. I remember coLinux from about 10 years ago did the same thing, but having it officially supported in Windows with no screwing around with pcap drivers or whatever makes it super easy.

  • When this is implemented, all OSS software that maintains a windows compatibility layer could simply drop it. This way we will turn the tables on Microsoft and win with EEE ourselves! :) Everybody will just think: "I'm only starting Windows to get into my Linux environment, why not install Linux on the bare metal?"

  • Seriously, what programmes would run in said environment and provide an advantage?

    The given examples all provide Windows binaries with the exception of Evolution... that IMHO is no "killer app" to justify this effort

    • by martynhare ( 7125343 ) on Saturday October 03, 2020 @03:22PM (#60568890)
      How about every Android-exclusive app, like banking apps, which have no justification to be written for Windows but which many consumers want? Apple is porting this stuff to macOS and people really do want it.

      In 2019, Android devices started using the mainline DRM/KMS graphics stack. It won't be long until Android is fully mainlined into the Linux kernel and those apps will start making their way on to the Linux desktop. Imagine if Microsoft all of a sudden had native support for Windows-native, Linux-native and Android-native apps, complete with support for corporate IT policies (both MDM and Group Policy) with a consistent, well-patched runtime...

      The Microsoft Store could easily ship Android apps so they "just install" on Windows desktops as well as on mobile (via Android). After all, now that Windows 10 Mobile is end-of-life, said mobile-only UWP apps can be purged, eliminating any potential customer confusion in the process. Mobile-compatible would mean Android-compatible and desktop-compatible would mean Windows-compatible, whether via a WSL runtime or otherwise.
    • It's for the Node ecosystem, (and easy deployment into the cloud).
  • by DrXym ( 126579 ) on Saturday October 03, 2020 @02:50PM (#60568820)
    Using an app like MobaXTerm allows X-Windows to run on a Windows desktop with minimal effort - set the DISPLAY variable inside WSL and it works. That said, it still requires 3rd party software and X-Windows is shoving pixmaps around and performance sucks. Something that allows hardware accelerated rendering inside of WSL and straight to a surface in the host would be epic.
  • Serious question.

    Other than having to recompile Linux apps with something like MacPorts or HomeBrew, how is this substantially better than what OS X/macOS has offered for the past 20 years with its BSD Subsystem Add-On (now spun-off to the OSS Project, XQuartz)?

    https://www.xquartz.org/index.... [xquartz.org]

    https://www.maketecheasier.com... [maketecheasier.com]

    • Why does it have to be better? Not everything has to be a contest.

    • XQuartz is dead having no new release since 2016. GIMP dropped XQuartz support and went native around v2.8.2 because it is utter garbage. I wish Inkscape would do the same because its window management is completely random, especially on multi-monitor systems.
      • XQuartz is dead having no new release since 2016. GIMP dropped XQuartz support and went native around v2.8.2 because it is utter garbage.

        It may not have a package later than 2016; but, compared with many other FOSS Projects, with source-file modification dates of October, 2019 (and possibly later), it is demonstrably far from abandoned.

    • For one your boss or IT department at work determines your platform. Not you.

      Another reason is you don't want to pay for an expensive underpowered Mac and prefer the freedom of buying what you want specced do your needs at home.

      Third and THE biggest reason is you have applications that don't run on Linux or your Mac. If you game or are a small shop who uses Inuit QuickBooks or runs 3D Studio max or Unreal engine for presentations then you have to use Windows.

      Last some people like and gulp prefer Windows. I

      • For one your boss or IT department at work determines your platform. Not you.
        Another reason is you don't want to pay for an expensive underpowered Mac and prefer the freedom of buying what you want specced do your needs at home.
        Third and THE biggest reason is you have applications that don't run on Linux or your Mac. If you game or are a small shop who uses Inuit QuickBooks or runs 3D Studio max or Unreal engine for presentations then you have to use Windows.
        Last some people like and gulp prefer Windows. I know that is sacrilege here but Windows just works these days compared to 20 years ago mostly. :-). WSL fits the bill for all of these without requiring virtualization
        Also MS made or i should say ported wsl from Windows Phone to run Android apps for developers. Young 23 year old kids writing this are poor and can't afford $3000 Macs or $$$$ PC's for Virtualization specs which 32 gigs is still expensive. WSL more lightweight

        So, IOW, you can't come up with a single good reason, and have nothing left but tired, old Apple-Hater memes.

        Got it!

        • How are these old Memes? lol

          Not everyone is a silicon valley nerd making $200K a year with 10 years experience working with a with a new age employer .com philosphy of using what you want etc.

          Most new mobile developers are kids in India and college grads because they are cheaper and have more experience with node.js and other trendy things then the old timers who use Java or C++. These employers are traditional companies as these kids do not have the barganing power you do who can choose an employer based o

          • How are these old Memes? lol

            Not everyone is a silicon valley nerd making $200K a year with 10 years experience working with a with a new age employer .com philosphy of using what you want etc.

            Most new mobile developers are kids in India and college grads because they are cheaper and have more experience with node.js and other trendy things then the old timers who use Java or C++. These employers are traditional companies as these kids do not have the barganing power you do who can choose an employer based on a Mac or get a nice salary.

            Most non paid internships require 2 years experience and if you have a gap on a resume and live at home with your parents a shit job is better than no job etc. Not even in the same world you live in buddy. These guys take what their employer gives them which is a Dell Windows 10 laptop with low end specs like 4 to 8 gigs of ram and an i5 2 generations behind etc. WSL fits the bill.

            My other part of freedom bugged you but it is true. I love my dedicated graphics and i9 and 64 gigs of ram. I can't afford a Mac with those specs so I will not buy one. Simple.

            And that is another tired old Mac-Hater meme.

            I've barely ever made more than US$ 60k annually doing mostly industrial embedded development (because I don't like to play the corporate-stooge-game), and have had my fair share of gaps in my resume; some even a bit long, Yet I have always had Mac gear. Always. Most has been a couple of generations old; but, like iPhones and iPads, Macs simply last longer; both hardware and software-wise.

            The trick is, I don't game; so I have absolutely no need to spend $$$ on di

  • Linux finally makes it to the desktop in Windows thereby getting infected with a digitized Coronavirus.

  • The Windows Subsystem reeks. Most office applications are ported. The performance hit and security compromises will let the rest of the from the balloon.
  • by Billly Gates ( 198444 ) on Saturday October 03, 2020 @06:41PM (#60569376) Journal

    Yes I am in the minority here in a wave of old farts who don't like change and are scarred with SystemD still but X is really horrid!

    I remember in the 1990s where it took 70% of all resources and to this day the whole concept of a a server and client talking to itself on the same PC is just weird. The Unix haters manual has a whole chapter on this. This bizaare architecture is why things like sound, true type fonts, and 3d acceleration can't ever truly work. Sure you may see them on your desktop but they are hacks. A font server? Wtf. A sound server tied to Linux so Gnome is waay out of date on FreeBSD due to pulse audio and alsa which were created to get around limitations in Xorg. Mesa is a joke last a looked as the X protocol can't handle the bandwidth between Xclient and Xserver. Another hack was needed with 3d apps.

    Why doesn't the Gimp support true rgb color channels and accuracy? Again limitations on 30 year old X. X was designed to work on a green screen terminal with a big wheel for a mouse hooked into a mid 1980s Unix mainframe.

    The apis you see today really hide the unscalable nightmare underneath in an abstraction layer.

    Getting rid of X would make running apps easier in wsl, rdp, or on a cell phone

    • by sjames ( 1099 )

      The problem is it's the very worst except for the other options...

    • First of all, I do not think X ever had anything to do with sound. There was never anything about sound in the config files, when I used to poke with them.

      Most of the graphical/colour/fonts issues are in libraries and applications, not X as such.

      X was designed to work on a green screen terminal

      Never seen that, and I have been using Linux for a long time.

  • Well looky here, it seems MS may finally be realizing that Windows is a mess and is unsalvageable.

    Pretty soon the Linux "subsystem" will grow and encompass more and more of the system, expanding until all that's left of the original is the logo. Windows will be essentially a Linux distro with built-in support for Windows.

    So we may eventually get to see "the year of Linux on the desktop", and it'll be brought to us by....Microsoft?

  • what is the Linux subsystem in windows called, Cheese?
  • Please waste your time writing apps for WSL instead of a real Linux Operating System.
  • Seriously, if I have the choice between a crappy, insecure, unstable OS (win10) and a mature, reliable, secure, stable OS (linux), why would I run my applications on the crappy one?

  • 1. Embrace
    2. Extend
    3. .... Destroy?

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