Could Microsoft release a desktop Linux?
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Re: Could Microsoft release a desktop Linux?
#2They could even use WSL to put Linux on top of the NT kernel. It'd be called Microsoft GNU/Windows.
Or they could ditch the GNU part and go for a non-GNU libc and userland like the article suggests. That wouldn't save nearly as much money as the article speculates because the Windows userland is humongous - NT is a small part of the whole, much like the Linux kernel is a vanishingly small part of the distributed effort of building desktop Linux distros.
Re: Could Microsoft release a desktop Linux?
#3I suggested on Mini-Microsoft about 10 years ago that Microsoft do an 'Apple'. Apple took a free OS from BSD and put their own GUI over the top of it. I suggested that MSFT do the same sort of thing, that being to put their Windows GUI on top of the Linux OS instead of using the Linux X11 GUIs.
This had the advantage that the underlying OS base would no longer need maintaining by Microsoft, and all their coding efforts could be allocated to the Windows GUI, thus permitting Windows versions to be released far more often than every 5 years as was the case back then.
Being full of Softies, the crowd on Mini-Microsoft dismissed my suggestion out of hand, it being sacrilege of course to even think of marrying the 'upstart' Linux with the 'sacred' Windows code.
Naturally, today I am smiling to myself that MSFT could have taken my idea and run with it, but were too hidebound to do so and have lost 10 years in the process.
Re: Could Microsoft release a desktop Linux?
#4They could and they should. Linux is an amazing OS and to have a great UI on top of it that millions of people are comfortable with would be tremendous.
Think about it. The year of Linux on the desktop brought to you by Microsoft.
Re: Could Microsoft release a desktop Linux?
#5I suggested on Mini-Microsoft about 10 years ago that Microsoft do an 'Apple'. Apple took a free OS from BSD and put their own GUI over the top of it. I suggested that MSFT do the same sort of thing, that being to put their Windows GUI on top of the Linux OS instead of using the Linux X11 GUIs. This had the advantage that the underlying OS base would no longer need maintaining by Microsoft, and all their coding effor…
Never too late for them to make a go for it, even today.
But, to avoid alienating their huge existing developer community, they would first do well to get behind Mono [0] and maybe even, make it official (edit: Mono is "Sponsored by Microsoft", so already quite official indeed). In fact, as of 2014, there have been very promising signs in that direction. [1]
[0] https://www.mono-project.com/
[1] https://opensource.com/business/14/11/microsoft-dot-net-empo...
Re: Could Microsoft release a desktop Linux?
#6[deleted]
Re: Could Microsoft release a desktop Linux?
#7I suggested on Mini-Microsoft about 10 years ago that Microsoft do an 'Apple'. Apple took a free OS from BSD and put their own GUI over the top of it. I suggested that MSFT do the same sort of thing, that being to put their Windows GUI on top of the Linux OS instead of using the Linux X11 GUIs. This had the advantage that the underlying OS base would no longer need maintaining by Microsoft, and all their coding effor…
While Linux is faster and more scalable, Using BSD like Apple has many advantrges - especially when there are thousands of closed-source windows drivers which will never be released as open source. The other big hurdle is the sad state of Linux graphical facilities in the kernel. For Apple, this was never a problem due to limited hardware choices.
Re: Could Microsoft release a desktop Linux?
#8The most realistic path to this would be them buying Canonical. I doubt they are going to roll their own distro from scratch.
Re: Could Microsoft release a desktop Linux?
#9What interest would such a switch brings on the table? I can't see any, except reducing diversity in the computer landscape.
Re: Could Microsoft release a desktop Linux?
#10I'd like to use linux, and install it from time to time, but am always eventually worn down by problems, some trivial & some less so, that could mostly be solved, but at the cost of research & fiddling time I'm not interested in spending.
The issues largely fall into two categories - missing software, and missing or undercooked hardware support. If Microsoft did signal to the market an increased long-term support for Linux with a concomitant warning about Windows' longevity, I suspect these issues would be mitigated. Bring it on.