Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Confirmed: Microsoft and Canonical Partner To Bring Ubuntu To Windows 10 (zdnet.com)

Posted by msmash on from the microsoft-loves-linux dept.

Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols reports for ZDNet: According to sources at Canonical, Ubuntu Linux's parent company, and Microsoft, you'll soon be able to run Ubuntu on Windows 10. This will be more than just running the Bash shell on Windows 10. After all, thanks to programs such as Cygwin or MSYS utilities, hardcore Unix users have long been able to run the popular Bash command line interface (CLI) on Windows. With this new addition, Ubuntu users will be able to run Ubuntu simultaneously with Windows. This will not be in a virtual machine, but as an integrated part of Windows 10. [...] Microsoft and Canonical will not, however, sources say, be integrating Linux per se into Windows. Instead, Ubuntu will primarily run on a foundation of native Windows libraries. Update: 03/30 16:16 GMT by M : At its developer conference Build 2016, Microsoft on Wednesday confirmed that it is bringing native support for Bash on Windows 10. Scott Hanselman writes: This isn't Bash or Ubuntu running in a VM. This is a real native Bash Linux binary running on Windows itself. It's fast and lightweight and it's the real binaries. This is a genuine Ubuntu image on top of Windows with all the Linux tools I use like awk, sed, grep, vi, etc. It's fast and it's lightweight. The binaries are downloaded by you - using apt-get - just as on Linux, because it is Linux. You can apt-get and download other tools like Ruby, Redis, emacs, and on and on. This is brilliant for developers that use a diverse set of tools like me.

4 of 492 comments (clear)

  1. Ew, no by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    The only reason I'd ever bother with Ubuntu is to get away from Windows. I don't want them together.

    1. Re:Ew, no by K.+S.+Kyosuke · · Score: 5, Insightful

      You forgot the important part. It's The Year of Linux on Windows on the desktop (TM).

      --
      Ezekiel 23:20
  2. The lack of technical precision in TFS is annoying by LichtSpektren · · Score: 5, Insightful

    So what the hell does "Ubuntu will primarily run on a foundation of native Windows libraries" mean? "Ubuntu" is an OS with the Linux kernel and pre-configured utilities, programs and drivers put on top of that, but TFS is indicating that "Ubuntu" in this case is not including a kernel, utilities, or drivers. Unless this is an extremely mangled, obscure, and moronic way of saying that Windows 10 will be including a Linux compatibility layer sponsored by Ubuntu.

  3. Too early for April Fool's. by neurojab · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I suppose that since April Fool's day is two days away that this is not a joke. That said, Canonical has completely lost their collective minds. It started with Unity, then Mir, and now "ubuntu minus Linux". Seriously guys. What the hell IS ubuntu if it is not Linux? Unity for windows? Barf.