1. Running Linux build tools that expect to pop up a browser for SSO auth (e.g. with ECS). These tools do the right thing if you install chrome in WSL. Otherwise you need to copy the URL into a windows browser which is slightly inconvenient and for me sometimes inscrutably doesn't work.
2. Running UI dev tools that don't work properly cross-OS from Windows. E.g jconsole Java networking seems to be mostly broken between the host OS and processes listening in WSL so this is a workaround. Run the GUI client in Linux. JVM process discovery also works which is nice.
> It would be nice if they did something actually useful, like add native ext4 support. Other way around. The Kernel getting real support for NTFS (was merged into Linus' tree a month ago [0]) there's hope to get native performance on WSL2. Microsoft is building the dev environment for the next decade. [0] https://www.linuxtoday.com/news/linux-kernel-5-15-will-have-...
> Microsoft is building the dev environment for the next decade. Big claim, most devs I've met either use Mac or Ubuntu. Can't remember anyone using Windows...
I've consistently developed Unix (then Linux) server software on WindowsNT since 1996.
> That aside it’s terrific to see MS putting something good into Windows rather than just removing things and taking choice away from the end user. That's the tip of the iceberg MS want everyone to see, and point the finger at. MS want people to stop using Linux as an alternative since they lost the battle when they attempted to kill it during the Ballmer era. The plan now is more subtle: making sure everyone using L…
I wonder how many people who rely on Linux have truly moved to WSL? I gave it a try and I find real Linux vastly superior. Hybrid Windows+WSL apps, what is the point? Developing Windows apps with .NET is very easy and pleasant. Don't get me wrong, I agree we should be concerned about WSL. But I think it's also very possible Microsoft recognizes developers that aren't developing with MS tech (ie anything but .NET thes…
For me it's a far superior experience than the alternative which is macos. Instead of battling a close but frustratingly different OS than my server target, I get to run the exact same OS. So a bunch of pain vanishes.
> That aside it’s terrific to see MS putting something good into Windows rather than just removing things and taking choice away from the end user. That's the tip of the iceberg MS want everyone to see, and point the finger at. MS want people to stop using Linux as an alternative since they lost the battle when they attempted to kill it during the Ballmer era. The plan now is more subtle: making sure everyone using L…
I wonder how many people who rely on Linux have truly moved to WSL? I gave it a try and I find real Linux vastly superior. Hybrid Windows+WSL apps, what is the point? Developing Windows apps with .NET is very easy and pleasant. Don't get me wrong, I agree we should be concerned about WSL. But I think it's also very possible Microsoft recognizes developers that aren't developing with MS tech (ie anything but .NET thes…
I'd believe their target isn't users who are already using Linux, but users who will be using Linux for first time going forward. Think all the university students who made Linux the system to develop on will now make Linux on Windows as that system. Eventually, WSL will take over baremetal Linux because it was more convenient to get started, technical superiority notwithstanding.
How is this better than just running vcxsrv and inside WSL setting DISPLAY=WINDOWS_HOST_IP:0? I've been doing this to run graphical linux apps for a couple years now, both on WSL1 and on a regular Hyper-V Linux VM.
I'd love to use WSL2 but the longstanding issue with slow I/O between WSL NTFS host is a dealbreaker. It basically means you have to keep all your data inside ext4 in Linux and that defeats the whole point - e.g. you can't keep your code, or files you download etc in Windows. With WSL you can keep all data in NTFS, have near native speeds but you can't run a bunch of Linux cmdline tools. I don't know if they can solv…
I thought I'd have that problem but I just keep all my dev files in WSL2 now and I stopped using Intellij. VSCode has very fast WSL2 filesystem remoting.
I wonder what Linux exclusive software they are hoping to support. Everything I use in my Ubuntu daily driver has a Windows build or corollary app. I get how ‘you never have to leave Windows’ is a nice thing for their business, but I don’t see this being a reason I would stop dual-booting. The only reason I run windows in the first place is for a few apps, mostly games. Otherwise I really enjoy the bloat-free, ad-fre…
I think it's mostly a "because they can". WSL is a no-brainer because developers are used to Unix shells and most programming languages are Unix-first, Windows-maybe. But WSLg feels like a weird experiment with no purpose.
I think the main target is ML applications that depend on GPU access and being able to run a WM is just a side-benefit.
As the author of EasyBCD, I can tell you that interest in dual-booting has collapsed to near zero over the past decade.
Anecdata, but I used to dual boot, until Windows mucked up the Linux boot more than once. Didn't play nice. So I run Windows in a VM now, it's not getting near the boot sector again.
Yep. I have a strict "Dual boot on dual drives" policy now because Windows thinks its too precious.
It only played to their disadvantage, for machines with single storage device now doesn't boot Windows at all or only from VM.
Perhaps it needn't be; I, with my negligible OS dev experience, just like microkernel architectures better. It seems more sensible to have microkernels managed by a microkernel loader. This might be an opinion I come to recant in time. The core of my position is that Microsoft needs to stop doing Microsoft things if they want to be taken seriously as a good faith actor, but I'm not holding my breath. Until they make…
Providing POSIX and Linux-specific APIs does actually place them into Linux ecosystem. Programs bult for Linux suddenly can be run for Windows users. That's a boost in adoption potential for Linux programs (large part of the ecosystem). And adoption is very impotant for further development and success of software. On the other hand, for Linux users this makes Windows more attractive - why not choose Windows for your…
WSL is winning people over who had left Windows simply because the dev experience outside of the VS IDE is sub-par. We'll see what this means for Linux.
It could mean that people start realizing that there's gaps between Windows and Linux that need to be closed to make Linux more attractive to users. Alternatively it could mean that people don't acknowledge those gaps and instead gripe about EEE.
This reminds me of an old VMWare version where you could break out windows from the guest OS into the host. I'm surprised it wasn't patented by VMWare (or maybe that expired?)