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Microsoft Exec Urges Linux Developers To Try Windows 10 (softpedia.com)
An anonymous reader shares a Softpedia article: Microsoft has finally acknowledged the potential that the open-source world in general, and Linux in particular, boasts, so the company is exploring its options to expand in this area with every occasion. Most recently, an episode posted on Channel 9 and entitled "Improvements to Bash on Windows and the Windows Console" with senior program manager Rich Turner calls for Linux developers to give up on their platforms for Windows 10. "Fire up a Windows 10 Insiders' build instance and run your code, run your tools, host your website on Apache, access your MySQL database from your Java code," he explained. Turner went on to point out that the Windows subsystem for Linux is there to provide developers with all the necessary tools to code just like they'd do it on Linux, all without losing the advantages of Windows 10. "Whatever it is that you normally do on Linux to build an application: whether it's in Go, in Erlang, in C, whatever you use, please, give it a try on Bash WSL, and importantly file bugs on us. It really makes our life a lot easier and helps us build a product that we can all use and be far more productive with, he continued. Editor's note: The original title from Softpedia was edited because it was misleading. A Microsoft employee doesn't represent the entire company (at least in this instant he wasn't speaking for the company), and at no point has he asked "all Linux developers" to "give up" on Linux.
He's not telling anyone to give up on Linux at all. He's saying, "Hey developers that use Linux. Try doing the *the same thing* you do on Linux within the new Bash on Ubuntu on Windows project. Let us know if something sucks so we can fix it and make it better." He doesn't want people to stop using Linux. He wants to make using Ubuntu *in* Windows better.
April fools day or something? As an exclusive GNU/Linux user since about 2001 all I can say is: what?
Why would I do something like that? Because of bash? Does this think that bash is *the* reason not to use Windows and to be on a Linux distro? For real? I wonder if I am the target audience for this, I use Ubuntu and/or Mint for development and OpenBSD, Debian and Fedora for deployment, most of the code is Java, I use PostgreSQL and a bunch of other tools. So I didn't switch to an iOS product, have been on a Unix like system for the last 15 years or so. This guy believes that for some reason I would go to Windows? What a strange idea. Why would he target a Linux user, there are so few of us out there, why not go after a Mac user?
You can't handle the truth.
If you mean "try it" or "use it sometimes" then there are lots of reasons, esp if you need to maintain a windows box for any reason (there are some games I really like and have had too many headaches trying to switch)
I would much prefer to do any and all development/real work on a Unix platform and preferably linux. However... having the tools I know and love available to me is always a bonus....even if its in the ridiculously stupid, disrespectful surveillance malware of an OS Windows 10 really aspires to be.
I would never trust Windows as a platform. Its a game box, the windows 10 PC is a glorified game console that also doubles as an acceptable platform for shit-talking on the web.
That will always be the extend of its usefulness, because that is as far as I can trust it.
"I opened my eyes, and everything went dark again"
Desktop isn't on the "desktop" any more. It moved to a Laptop, and now is on your Smart Phone.
Yes, I read before I posted. I'm just seeing beyond the historical to the now. IF by chance you see "desktop" and think "Windows/Mac", that is your problem. By that definition, the "year of Linux on the desktop" will never be. Because Linux isn't going to replace "Windows" as an OS on Intel PCs. It has however, gone and become Android and ChromeOS. It even runs on just about every other micro-controller like Raspberry Pi and Arduino. Linux is running on the Servers that make up just about every online "cloud" based activity you can think of and are the back-end of so many "apps" you use today.
I would suggest to you, that Linux is more involved in your daily "work" than windows is. Windows is basically a terminal for me.
Agent K: A *person* is smart. People are dumb, stupid, panicky animals, and you know it.
I always think about Spender from GrSecurity when I read this. He uses windows to develop for Linux because it makes him more productive.
As a long time every day user and programmer (Linux, FreeBSD since year 1, MacOS for 28 years, Windows for 20 years), of all major platforms I'm using Linux desktop primarily (and most of my colleagues use OSX) but.. I cannot disagree with Spender. I'd be more productive on Windows for my Linux code (than on either OSX or Linux). I just choose the Linux desktop for other reasons ("I like it" "ideology" "its slowly getting there").
Still, today, Win10 is still the faster, more productive environment for Linux code.. oh and its always extremely good for Windows code too - as long as you don't use old APIs, which really, you shouldn't anymore.
Basically, the Windows platform is very much underrated. No nonsense, super compatible, very fast. They just have a terrible, terrible reputation.
IE6 wasn't made to be "as proprietary as possible". It was made the way it was because it had to be compatible with web pages made for IE4 and IE5.
In 1997, Microsoft's only real competition for IE was Netscape Navigator... and Netscape Navigator 4 was a hot mess. Netscape 4 sucked worse than a whore with braces. Web developers HATED Netscape, because it would literally crash your whole computer and take Windows down with it on a regular basis. And W3C took an eternity to get its act together and agree about how css and dom should work.
Compared to Netscape, IE4 was like a gift from ${deity} to the world's web developers. Unlike Netscape, it actually worked. And IE4's DHTML did stuff that other browsers using "standards-compliant" HTML couldn't reliably do until ~2004. IE5 built upon IE4,and IE6 was their first real attempt to implement the new standards-compliant HTML. And from what I remember, IE6 or IE7 actually did a better job of rendering HTML5 than Firefox until ~2008. Microsoft even bent over backwards to allow web developers to use standards-compliant html 5 without screwing up their ability to use IE-specific DHTML.
Hell, back in 1998, Microsoft could have probably sold IE5 for Linux for $89 AND SOLD MILLIONS OF COPIES if it ran at least as well as IE5 for Windows. People here seem to have forgotten just how truly awful Netscape 4 was.
Please mod parent up. I too have been running Linux on the desktop for many years, and I can do everything I need to do, whether locally or on the net. Sure, there's a few apps that don't work but then there's Wine and virtualization.
As more ecosystems appear, such as smart devices, cloud computing and who knows what's next, the smaller portion of the whole mess will be operating closed, proprietary software, since anyone building and selling these systems won't want to pay for that software when better software is free. When "hello world" in C++ is over 1 MB, you know there's cruft in there that you DON'T need. Why would a device maker want to include that in their product?
Hopefully as users and business realize they don't need to pay the rent-seekers just to use computers, those rent-seekers will fade away.
Sometimes the "writing on the wall" is blood spatter...