Slashdot Mirror


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.

240 of 403 comments (clear)

  1. LOL by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    Yeah, sure...

    1. Re:LOL by stooo · · Score: 4, Funny

      >> Microsoft Update Servers Left All Azure RHEL Instances Hackable --> Microsoft Exec Urges Linux Developers To Try Windows 10

      MS is always in for a good joke :)

      --
      aaaaaaa
  2. Why? by MightyMartian · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Why the fuck would any Linux developer want to do this? It's not as if Windows 10 offers any significant, or even real, architectural advantage, and it's not like Linux doesn't have plenty of its own development tools. So far as I can tell, Windows 10 has absolutely no developer advantages at all, and in fact, simply represents a pointless extra layer for any developer working on Linux.

    You know, I almost preferred the Gates-Ballmer Microsoft, because it was brilliantly maniacal. The new Microsoft is just a whining pathetic pack of halfwits who can't really even decide what direction their company should go. Sure, they may be more open source friendly, but so the fuck what?

    --
    The world's burning. Moped Jesus spotted on I50. Details at 11.
    1. Re:Why? by unixisc · · Score: 1

      We are talking desktop here now, right? Microsoft used to have legions of developers, and neither Apple nor Linux ever came close. So where are they now? Has breaking things since the journey to Windows 8 ticked them off? Also, iirc, Linux and Unix APIs are completely different from win64, so how is this something that a Linux developer can even do?

    2. Re:Why? by TrekkieGod · · Score: 2

      Why the fuck would any Linux developer want to do this?

      As far as I'm concerned, two reasons: First,because I'm developing cross-platform software, and if I don't have to reboot or go to a VM, bonus. Second, because Visual Studio is a fucking fantastic IDE compared to the IDEs available on Linux. KDevelop is alright.

      If your application is linux-only, and you don't need it to also run on windows, then yeah, I'm with you. Work in the environment the app will be used in. However, their new ability to build for Linux from Windows, if it works well (and that's a big if), will definitely benefit me.

      You know, I almost preferred the Gates-Ballmer Microsoft, because it was brilliantly maniacal. The new Microsoft is just a whining pathetic pack of halfwits who can't really even decide what direction their company should go. Sure, they may be more open source friendly, but so the fuck what?

      So I get more tools and more options to work with? I mean, that's the entire benefit of open-source friendly. Why are you complaining about Microsoft doing better? You don't have to use their stuff if you don't like it, but why do you want them to be evil?

      --

      Warning: Opinions known to be heavily biased.

    3. Re: Why? by Billly+Gates · · Score: 1

      The APIs run natively just like a win32 one.

    4. Re: Why? by tepples · · Score: 3, Insightful

      If you don't want wibdows 10 don't use it. No one is holding a gun to your head.

      Unless no laptop makers are willing to sell me a laptop in a particular form factor with anything other than Windows preinstalled. System76, for instance, lacks anything smaller than 14 inches (source).

    5. Re:Why? by MightyMartian · · Score: 1

      Windows already has a large percentage of desktop developers, as compared to any other platform. And this isn't about making cross-compatible applications, it's about Linux developers being asked to develop their Linux software in a Linux-under-Windows environment. Cross-platform tools have existed for a very long time now, and, so far as I understand, that's not what the Ubuntu-Windows subsystem is about.

      --
      The world's burning. Moped Jesus spotted on I50. Details at 11.
    6. Re:Why? by TheCarp · · Score: 3, Interesting

      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"
    7. Re: Why? by MightyMartian · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Sure they can't. The OOXML format is a good example of how Microsoft can use supposedly open processes to push through a proprietary system. I have little faith in Microsoft at the best of times, but of late, with the awful half-assedness of Windows 10 (not to mention its near constant attempts to sell me shit because I didn't invest in the enterprise edition), I'm not even sure if I care what Microsoft's intentions are, because at this point, I think incompetence has replaced malice.

      --
      The world's burning. Moped Jesus spotted on I50. Details at 11.
    8. Re: Why? by 0100010001010011 · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Then please, for the love of god, bring back a Desktop GUI to the Desktop OS.

      I'd actually prefer it to look like Windows NT/2000/"Classic". That has been, and forever will be, my preferred "working GUI". Right now my Cinnamon setup more or less looks just like it. It's how I make MATE and XFCE look as well.

      Stop trying to make me and my brain work like a tablet interface. (That goes for you too Ubuntu Unity)

    9. Re:Why? by dhuv · · Score: 1, Insightful

      I agree with you 100%. There really needs to be a serious advantage for people to even consider switching to Windows.

      If Microsoft really wants to help the Linux crowd, contribute to Wine. :)

      This is really pathetic.

    10. Re:Why? by MightyMartian · · Score: 1

      It is the main *desktop* OS used. It is not the main OS used overall.

      --
      The world's burning. Moped Jesus spotted on I50. Details at 11.
    11. Re:Why? by LifesABeach · · Score: 1

      That's, " whining pathetic pack of H1B halfwits"; personally, it makes more sense if one uses "zombies" instead of "halfwits."

    12. Re:Why? by TWX · · Score: 2

      Why the fuck would any Linux developer want to do this? It's not as if Windows 10 offers any significant, or even real, architectural advantage, and it's not like Linux doesn't have plenty of its own development tools. So far as I can tell, Windows 10 has absolutely no developer advantages at all, and in fact, simply represents a pointless extra layer for any developer working on Linux.

      While I agree with you, back when Microsoft's .net platform came out an acquaintance of mine got deeply involved in the Mono project. I felt this was the exact wrong approach to take given Microsoft's embrace/extend/expunge model, but he was undeterred.

      As far as I am concerned, as long as the OS is essentially reportware I want to stay as far away from it as I can. Bad enough I can't avoid Windows 8.1 on a particular convertible tablet/laptop, I have no interest in running Windows 10 when it will report to Microsoft, and when Microsoft is ever-increasingly looking toward the subscription model of software instead of the lifetime-license model they'd previously used.

      --
      Do not look into laser with remaining eye.
    13. Re: Why? by Clsid · · Score: 3, Informative

      Windows 10 is not bad in that regard. My main beef with it is the whole automatic updates saga, which when you have to rely on a metered connection becomes extremely painful. Kind of the same deal with the constant >1GB console/games updates but I guess I just have to become more connected :(

    14. Re:Why? by wasted · · Score: 1, Insightful

      Why?

      Masochism?

    15. Re:Why? by Luthair · · Score: 1

      As a long time Windows & Linux user. The Windows 7 desktop was by far the best, however the Windows 10 is categorically terrible.

    16. Re: Why? by Billly+Gates · · Score: 1

      That is not Microsoft but peripheral makers.

      Dell is selling a new Kaby Lake line of Linux specific PCs with a small screen. It is tested and QA certified. Go Google it under slashdot stories? I don't know if it's out yet though?

      There are others who don't include bargain basement grade peripherals too if you buy a premium convertible. Oddly the MS Surface Pro 3 runs Ubuntu very well. You can disable the tpm keys or add your own with Ubuntu signed.

    17. Re:Why? by K.+S.+Kyosuke · · Score: 1

      Why the fuck would any Linux developer want to do this?

      To get longer build times because of slower process launching?

      --
      Ezekiel 23:20
    18. Re:Why? by F.Ultra · · Score: 2

      Each to their own I suppose but I do write cross platform (server/system) software and prefer to write it in Linux and only boot Windows on Virtualbox in order to create a Windows binary in order to spend as little time in Windows as possible. For me productivity would go down the drain if I where forced to work in Windows only even with access to the Linux subsystem.

    19. Re:Why? by Grishnakh · · Score: 2

      You know, I almost preferred the Gates-Ballmer Microsoft, because it was brilliantly maniacal. The new Microsoft is just a whining pathetic pack of halfwits who can't really even decide what direction their company should go.

      You've got to be kidding. The new Microsoft under Satya is *far* more entertaining: advertising right on the desktop, spyware baked in, forced "upgrades", forced updates and reboots while trying to work... the level of whining from Windows users is higher than ever with this stuff, and it's funny as hell to watch. I'm constantly looking forward to the next way that MS pisses off its users, so when they whine about it I can remind them that they chose this vendor.

    20. Re:Why? by Hognoxious · · Score: 2

      Second, because Visual Studio is a fucking fantastic IDE compared to the IDEs available on Linux. KDevelop is alright.

      What are your views on Eclipse? I installed Neon a week ago and I'm still waiting for it to start.

      --
      Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
    21. Re:Why? by WaffleMonster · · Score: 1

      Why the fuck would any Linux developer want to do this? It's not as if Windows 10 offers any significant, or even real, architectural advantage, and it's not like Linux doesn't have plenty of its own development tools. So far as I can tell, Windows 10 has absolutely no developer advantages at all, and in fact, simply represents a pointless extra layer for any developer working on Linux.

      As someone who writes and tests as much code as possible in visual studio before compiling on Linux I disagree. Microsoft's developer tools are the best period. The ability to modify C code while software is running simply doesn't exist anywhere else Linux at any price. Debugging on Linux is like pulling teeth. I actively do everything I can possibly do to avoid it.

      Apparently several versions of VS are already running quite well within Wine so this may be a viable solution after ditching MS.

    22. Re:Why? by jellomizer · · Score: 1

      Linux in terms of UI features is far mor gearded towards developments. Windows 10 just gave us a Hail Mary pass of some low hanging fruit and tell us it is just as good for development.
      It really isnt.

      --
      If something is so important that you feel the need to post it on the internet... It probably isn't that important.
    23. Re: Why? by Miamicanes · · Score: 1, Interesting

      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.

    24. Re:Why? by johnnys · · Score: 1

      You know that and I know that, but there is a reality distortion field around Redmond. This Microsoft shill is really deeply unaware of how Linux compares to Windows.

      --
      Sometimes the "writing on the wall" is blood spatter...
    25. Re: Why? by exomondo · · Score: 1

      not to mention its near constant attempts to sell me shit because I didn't invest in the enterprise edition

      How is it making these attempts to sell you stuff? The only places i've seen advertising are a one-line of text in the start menu (which I just turned off in the start menu options) and the default tiles in the start menu (which I removed because I don't see any value in the live tiles) and they certainly aren't "constant".

    26. Re: Why? by Billly+Gates · · Score: 1

      Bill Gates was still CEO when OpenXML was in play and you can bet that was intentional

    27. Re:Why? by srmalloy · · Score: 2

      Why the fuck would any Linux developer want to do this?

      The quote in the original posting is incomplete:

      "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"

      ...send telemetry data about what you're developing to Microsoft so that they can bring a competing product to market before you, making it look as if you're just copying Microsoft.

    28. Re:Why? by dbreeze · · Score: 1

      Ding ding ding... we have a winner!

      --
      When the king heard the words of the Book of the Law he tore his robes.2Kings22:11
    29. Re:Why? by fozzy1015 · · Score: 1

      <quote><p>Why the fuck would any Linux developer want to do this? It's not as if Windows 10 offers any significant, or even real, architectural advantage, and it's not like Linux doesn't have plenty of its own development tools. So far as I can tell, Windows 10 has absolutely no developer advantages at all, and in fact, simply represents a pointless extra layer for any developer working on Linux.</p></quote>

      Nothing significant? How about good GUI development tools. I write code for a Linux application written in C++. The best setup I've found is Visual Studio w/ WinGDB attached to gdb running the process in a Linux VM. XCode can remotely attach to gdb as well.

      What's the best Linux solution for debugging? Emacs?

    30. Re:Why? by jandersen · · Score: 1

      Why the fuck would any Linux developer want to do this?

      Oh, don't be like that. Let them meet us half-way: they port Windows 10 to Linux and open-source it, and we will take a look at it, why not?

    31. Re: Why? by tepples · · Score: 1

      I hereby backpedal a bit:

      Windows wins in the market because a 13 inch laptop that comes with Windows 10 is far cheaper than a Dell XPS 13.

    32. Re: Why? by F.Ultra · · Score: 1

      I use that on Windows when compiling the windows binaries, since I have to create the installer and so forth I have not bothered to setup mingw32 under Linux and of course the shit still have to be tested under Windows and not just shipped.

    33. Re: Why? by tepples · · Score: 1

      There's also the convenience factor of even knowing that a particular laptop is Linux compatible in the first place.

    34. Re:Why? by HuguesT · · Score: 1

      Are they? A question of familiarity I believe. Unless things have changed recently, debugging memory errors in C was far easier under Linux than Windows.

    35. Re: Why? by david_thornley · · Score: 1

      I'm not inclined to get another random Windows laptop in the hope that it won't be a problem to put a Linux partition on.

      --
      "When you have eliminated the unacceptable, whatever is left, however improbable, must be the truthiness" - Holmes
    36. Re: Why? by Billly+Gates · · Score: 1

      Funny

      Every web developer I have met HATE IE with SUCH A STRONG PASSION that they became linux geeks out of pure anger. They told me even something trivial like adding the simpliest of CSS would make IE 6 freak out and go into quirks mode. Nothing ever ever works and it is like that game with the wooden logs where you take from the bottom of the stack and put on the top until it collapses at just the wrong movement or support log.

      Is it true that you had to memorize race conditions in IE 6 so it doesn't freak out and throw things together like in a blender. Sorry everyone loved Netscape and no one would use it if it was that bad.People here and I have been here in 1998 all rail about NEtscape 4 rocking and how horrible IE was. Go back to 2000 and see for yourself

  3. Uh... sure. How much is worth to you? by mark-t · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Because seriously, there is positively no way I will ever put Windows on any computer that I ever own unless I am being paid what I think my time is worth for the inconvenience.

    So since it's clearly not worth your time to pay me to use it, it's not worth mine to install it.

  4. Why on earth by nightfire-unique · · Score: 1, Insightful

    Why on earth would we do that? Windows is closed-source proprietary software.

    GPL a good hunk of the codebase and we'll talk. Until then, we've got our own problems to solve.

    --
    A government is a body of people notably ungoverned - AC
    1. Re:Why on earth by tepples · · Score: 1

      Major video game consoles are even more closed and more proprietary than desktop Windows, yet they somehow still have companies developing applications for them.

    2. Re:Why on earth by alvinrod · · Score: 1

      This assumes that everyone who uses Linux cares about open-source software and isn't using it because of the price (free) or because it's just a good tool/solution for their problem. You can get more people to use Linux for the latter reasons than because of FOSS principles.

      Even if I were an FOSS zealot, if you could prove to me that using Windows 10 to develop my FOSS software made me considerably more productive, I'd be a bit of a fool not to use it. Ideology is worth less in my book that being pragmatic. Maybe you feel different, but I would imagine that even most people here don't live in such a black and white world.

    3. Re:Why on earth by tepples · · Score: 1

      If it matters, I have credits in games for the Nintendo Entertainment System and the Game Boy Advance. But that wasn't my point at all. My point is that being closed and proprietary is not a deal breaker in practice.

  5. I urge a Microsoft executive to by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    drink bleach.

    That said, you can download VM's of all Microsoft OSes from Microsoft.com for free. They're for compatibility testing and time limited, but otherwise fully functioning,

  6. Wrong issue...take off the blinders. by RavenLrD20k · · Score: 1, Informative

    It's never been the ability to run Linux programs on Windows that's kept me from moving to Windows 10, I can build just about any program designed for Linux to make use of Windows...perhaps with a bit of code fiddling depending on how ingrained Linux support was made. What keeps me from swapping to Windows 10 is the fucking back doors that MS wants to run by default....and the fact that Windows 7 still runs quite well inside the sandbox.

    1. Re:Wrong issue...take off the blinders. by iampiti · · Score: 2

      Exactly, technically it seems Win 10 is pretty good. What kills it for me it's the hideous mobile-like UI but mainly the spying and blatant pushing of Ms' own products inside of Windows itself. An OS should let the user take control. Windows 10 takes part of that control away from the user but most of all an OS should not have spying nor publicity.

    2. Re:Wrong issue...take off the blinders. by MightyMartian · · Score: 1

      What really irks me about Win10 is the instability of some of its feature. The Start Menu, even fully updated, seems prone to some pretty strange failures, all of which end up requiring weird DISM commands to fix. On my workplace network, we just back up user profiles, and when the Start Menu or Cortana go screwy, we just wipe out the profile and replace it with a week-old backup. Part of the problem here, I suspect, is MS moving to XML files, and the greater likelihood, or so it seems, of those files being corrupted.

      --
      The world's burning. Moped Jesus spotted on I50. Details at 11.
    3. Re:Wrong issue...take off the blinders. by Tough+Love · · Score: 2

      technically it seems Win 10 is pretty good. What kills it for me it's the hideous mobile-like UI but mainly the spying and blatant pushing of Ms' own products inside of Windows itself.

      How about the forced updates and surprise reboots? How about notification popups in the middle of full screen slide presentations? How about the endless stream of malware infections? How about the zillion horrible annoyances that one tends to forget about until they bite you?

      How about not being able to look at the source when you want to know what's wrong with it?

      --
      When all you have is a hammer, every problem starts to look like a thumb.
    4. Re:Wrong issue...take off the blinders. by RavenLrD20k · · Score: 1

      How about those are all good reasons not to use the shit-storm that is Windows 10, but some of us don't need that much convincing so we just enumerate what's ultimately the deal killer.

    5. Re:Wrong issue...take off the blinders. by Tough+Love · · Score: 1

      They're all deal killers and I barely got started.

      --
      When all you have is a hammer, every problem starts to look like a thumb.
    6. Re:Wrong issue...take off the blinders. by tigersha · · Score: 1

      The one that annoys me the most by far is the time when you switch off your machine and it wants to install a 30 minute update first. "Please do not switchoff the computer".Goddammit, if I want it off, I want it off.

      Usually I have Windows 10 in a VM on a 14-core Xeon Linux box in it. That thing is a power hog. If I want to go to sleep, I want the VM Off, NOW so I can switch off the VM that runs it in the first place. If the VM is not off, I cant't switch off the machine.

      Ditto when I grab my laptop to go to work, or want to reboot for some reason (which is way more common than on MacOS/X). Apple always asks you about the occasional update where you have to restart the machine and give you the option to plan it.

      I am an Apple freak, and use my MacBook, but Apple is going off the rails a bit and it is worrying me.

      --
      The dangers of excessive individualism are nothing compared to the oppressiveness of excessive collectivism
  7. Incredibly misleading by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Interesting

    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.

    1. Re:Incredibly misleading by MightyMartian · · Score: 3, Interesting

      And why should any developer be interested in moving to another platform just to help MS find bugs?

      --
      The world's burning. Moped Jesus spotted on I50. Details at 11.
    2. Re:Incredibly misleading by mark-t · · Score: 4, Insightful

      What if you don't like Ubuntu?

    3. Re:Incredibly misleading by thegarbz · · Score: 1

      And why should any developer be interested in moving to another platform just to help MS find bugs?

      Yeah that's right. Why would be a part of your test.

      *1 years later*

      WTF is this shit. Didn't they do any user testing before releasing it? Why is it so full of bugs, and what's with these UI choices? Like WTF Microsoft do you not listen to your users anymore!?!

    4. Re:Incredibly misleading by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

      So if you refuse to work for Microsoft for free, you have no right to complain that they don't hire testers?

    5. Re:Incredibly misleading by mark-t · · Score: 1

      nobody forces Ubuntu on anyone

      Microsoft does, if you want to use their Windows subsystem for Linux. Obviously, if you don't want to use that mechanism then there is no problem, but you may want to read the context in which I asked the question.

    6. Re:Incredibly misleading by ewhac · · Score: 1

      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.

      There is no "new BASH." There is only one BASH, and you get it from Gnu.org. What they've got is MASH (Microsoft Adulterated SHell), which is a fork of BASH. Now, maybe Microsoft can find some success with their forked project and, seriously, good luck to 'em. But, seeing as how the current state of the law is that APIs are copyrightable, many of us don't see the value of contributing to a project whose benefits will accrue only to Windows, particularly given Microsoft's malicious stance toward Open Source/Free Software over the past 20 years.

    7. Re:Incredibly misleading by shutdown+-p+now · · Score: 1

      Because it is a very popular platform in general, and if it has better compatibility with your favorite platform, it will translate to more cross-platform code long term (which improves availability of code on your platform).

  8. Re:So much hostility by MightyMartian · · Score: 1

    What exactly is there to offer? I can't imagine anyone wanting to throw an extra layer on top of their work just to help Microsoft find bugs.

    --
    The world's burning. Moped Jesus spotted on I50. Details at 11.
  9. It's not how well the OS operates. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

    During development of any project, configuration and the ability to own the software environment often comes into play. It really comes down to, I'd rather not have them in my system changing things without my permission.

  10. Re:Uh... sure. How much is worth to you? by skids · · Score: 2

    But they did say please:

    please, give it a try on Bash WSL

    If you're going to solicit charity, IMO you should be a charity, not a for-profit company.

  11. literally why? by nimbius · · Score: 2
    Why would I ever do this? windows 10 costs $100. once im done with my code, ostensibly youd like me to run this on windows server? that starts at $600. what if my code needs to run, as it does, on 400 servers in a cloud somewhere? are you really suggesting i spend a quarter of a million dollars on just my project at a startup company?

    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

    or i run these tools on Linux, which has a 20+ year track record of running this software, and not some OS that conveniently added support once they realized the future of cloud computing was entirely based around avoiding their historic and well documented efforts to intentionally fuck up everything they touch.

    --
    Good people go to bed earlier.
  12. ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha, ooooh my :) by roman_mir · · Score: 1, Interesting

    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?

    1. Re:ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha, ooooh my :) by MightyMartian · · Score: 1

      If MS had used a Bash variant rather than that overly-verbose monstrosity that is PowerShell, I might have sided with them. In fact, I'd probably use a Linux subsystem on Windows 10 and Server 2012 if it could latch into the same configuration and reporting systems that Powershell does. But at the moment, I have a Linux development machine that runs Windows as a VM, and that works fairly well (though I don't do a lot of development these days).

      --
      The world's burning. Moped Jesus spotted on I50. Details at 11.
    2. Re:ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha, ooooh my :) by roman_mir · · Score: 1

      Like I said, bash is not the only thing that a Linux user has. I like being able to type: apt-get install [packagename] and not worry about searching for anything on the web. I like being able to go to /etc/ and modify my configuration, reload it and never have to restart anything and not have to deal with any GUI. I don't like GUIs.

      I like vi (eat me, emacs users), I like *not* having a registry, so I stay away from systemd as well. I like ssh and scp and command line tools for database access, etc.etc.

      I like config, make, make install, I build my DB engine and never download it as a binary (and many other tools I only get source code for). I like OpenBSD and its simplicity, I cannot in the wildest of the dreams trust MS over the BSD guys as another example.

      I can think of other things, this is what I immediately thought of right now.

    3. Re:ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha, ooooh my :) by MightyMartian · · Score: 1

      I was thinking more in terms of cross-platform scripting. Being able to move Bash scripts around different Linux variants, and more particularly different *nix variants, isn't always straightforward, with different variants storing different things even within the /etc structure. But still, the Bourne family has decades of library functions and the like behind it, so if I could just run Bash on Windows (without all the awful mess of Cygwin), but still be able to latch into Windows subsystems, I'd have one common scripting language, one that I have been using for over 25 years, on all my systems. That would be a boon, even if strictly speaking some scripts would be largely restricted to one platform.

      --
      The world's burning. Moped Jesus spotted on I50. Details at 11.
    4. Re:ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha, ooooh my :) by roman_mir · · Score: 1

      back in 1999-2001 I used cygwin for that, did something change and cygwin went away?

    5. Re:ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha, ooooh my :) by roman_mir · · Score: 1

      You are a straaaaange person. I am certainly not running around telling people to do with their computers everything that I do. I do have all of my devs on GNU/Linux (except for a couple, one dealing with MS and another with iOS compatibility) but I prefer that they use IDE for development. Who pissed in your cornflakes today?

    6. Re:ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha, ooooh my :) by MightyMartian · · Score: 1

      First of all, Cygwin is just horribly slow and klunky. Second of all, it doesn't give you access to WMI objects and the like, at least not in any sane way that I'm aware of.

      --
      The world's burning. Moped Jesus spotted on I50. Details at 11.
    7. Re:ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha, ooooh my :) by roman_mir · · Score: 1

      Fine, but all of this for what, what is the primary purpose of switching to MS Windows? Better games? I don't play games. Better security? I don't think so. Better performance? In some cases that is possible, bit that does not outweigh anything of what I mentioned, packaging and software management, security, etc.

    8. Re:ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha, ooooh my :) by Zontar+The+Mindless · · Score: 1

      I'm out of mod points at the moment, but you're in line for a +1, Insightful from me next time I have them.

      Spot on, and well said.

      --
      Il n'y a pas de Planet B.
    9. Re:ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha, ooooh my :) by keith_nt4 · · Score: 1

      The replies I've so far seem pretty hostile to the whole premise of the bash/linux sub-system on windows so I feel some how obliged to mention up front I kind of go both ways. Linux and Windows both seem to have their positives and negatives and I switch between them as needed. You might say I'm "chaotic neutral" on the matter. That's a thing right? Chaotic neutral?

      With that out of the way, I would just like to point out you can still use JavaScript for windows scripting. I mean it's technically JScript and grossly out of date but it is there with full access to both Windows Script Host objects and the full WMI suite. There's also VBScript, but who likes that? Except even in "Hyper-V server 2016" (the free-as-in-beer non-GUI server edition) the little choose-an-option menu that comes up is written in VBScript. Why it wasn't powershell I'll never know.

      Actually even on Windows 7 or 10 if you search your C: drive for "*.vbs" there are some scripts left over. One of them is actually written a as if it was supposed to be in C but was then converted to VBS. Or C programmer learned VBS in an hour and wrote it in the same format.

      Also, people are too hard and CMD batch files. There are a lot of extensions for CMD shell that make it quite powerful. I mean it has so much layered on top of so much else it's really not "elegant" or anything but you can do a lot with it.
      For instance, here's a line from a script I wrote a while ago:

      if exist "gameinfo\%GAMENAME%_%CONSOLE%.txt" (for /f "usebackq tokens=3 delims= " %%z in (`type gameinfo\%GAMENAME%_%CONSOLE%.txt ^| find /i "current profile"`) do set DISCTYPE=%%z) else (echo could not find text file)

      Would anybody assume this could all be done in one line? I mean I find it perfectly readable. It doesn't seem as cool as a bash one-liner but it works. My only point being inefficient though they are there are some solutions on the Windows side, quite capable solutions.

      Also feel free to "fork me on github". I would link to it the github project but i have a feeling nobody is going to fork me...

      --
      "UNIX is very simple, it just needs a genius to understand its simplicity." -Dennis Ritchie
    10. Re:ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha, ooooh my :) by Tough+Love · · Score: 1

      Postgres is unbelievably amazing, especially considering the low, low price of nothing at all.

      --
      When all you have is a hammer, every problem starts to look like a thumb.
    11. Re:ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha, ooooh my :) by HuguesT · · Score: 1

      At some point MS seemed to like the Korn shell, right until a pretty famous encounter. After that they really had to invent the most incompatible-with-anything shell imaginable, so it would never happen again.

  13. Just this morning by OzPeter · · Score: 1

    I'm using a W10 work laptop. Just this morning I pulled up the Calc app for some minor numerical twiddling. Just as I was dismissing it*, it had some pop over asking me how I was enjoying the app (or something to that effect). And I used to regularly get notifications asking me how I felt about W10 and would I recommend it to my friends. And lets not forget that W10 updates keeping bring back shit that you don't want or need**

    I know that at some point will have to get a W10 system for my home dev work, but MS is doing everything it its power to turn me off W10 (and I am not even getting to the telemetry stuff***)

    * I wish I had been able to stop myself from closing it. It would have made a great screen cap for TDWTF.

    ** It's not just MS that is doing this. I recently discovered my Mac Book Pro had downloaded a 4.7GB installer for Sierra, when I have explicitly said no every time El Capitan prompted me to upgrade. I have no idea when that download happened.

    *** I only feel like I tamed my MacBook Pro when I added a 3rd party firewall that allows my to whitelist network egress.

    --
    I am Slashdot. Are you Slashdot as well?
  14. Desktop Windows has more users than X11/Linux by tepples · · Score: 1

    So far as I can tell, Windows 10 has absolutely no developer advantages at all

    In the mobile and server fields, I'd agree. But in the desktop field, the advantage of Windows is in the economies of scale of having far more users than X11/Linux has.

    1. Re:Desktop Windows has more users than X11/Linux by MightyMartian · · Score: 2

      But the whole point of this plea isn't to get more Linux developers writing Windows software, but rather to switch to their Ubuntu-on-Win10 subsystem to continue developing Windows software.

      --
      The world's burning. Moped Jesus spotted on I50. Details at 11.
    2. Re: Desktop Windows has more users than X11/Linux by Billly+Gates · · Score: 1

      Windows does with developer tools.

    3. Re:Desktop Windows has more users than X11/Linux by Archangel+Michael · · Score: 2

      The desktop is running Linux. It is just in your hand, and not on your desk anymore.

      Desktops became laptops, became Smart Phones. The modern "desktop" is touch based running on your phone.

      IF Microsoft could explain how to develop Android (or iOS) on Windows 10 is better than any other platform, I'd be all ears.

      --
      Agent K: A *person* is smart. People are dumb, stupid, panicky animals, and you know it.
    4. Re:Desktop Windows has more users than X11/Linux by fisted · · Score: 5, Insightful

      The modern "desktop" is touch based running on your phone.

      But what device do you use to do actual work then?

    5. Re:Desktop Windows has more users than X11/Linux by Archangel+Michael · · Score: 2

      I can use anything I get my hands on. I have windows servers I can RDP in from just about any device I have. I have Google Drive for my documentation that surpasses anything Microsoft has to offer, and again, I can have access from just about any device I have. I have SSH to manage my Linux Servers, which I have access from just about any device I have.

      So, I am not sure what you mean by "actual work" ;)

      --
      Agent K: A *person* is smart. People are dumb, stupid, panicky animals, and you know it.
    6. Re:Desktop Windows has more users than X11/Linux by LifesABeach · · Score: 1

      Your economy of scale is being thinned by CIO's that think cost is important.

    7. Re:Desktop Windows has more users than X11/Linux by LifesABeach · · Score: 1

      Smart Phones, and Tablets

    8. Re:Desktop Windows has more users than X11/Linux by Archangel+Michael · · Score: 4, Interesting

      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.
    9. Re:Desktop Windows has more users than X11/Linux by Clsid · · Score: 1

      DevOps or MIS perhaps, but I really would like to see you programming without a proper workstation or laptop.

    10. Re:Desktop Windows has more users than X11/Linux by Drethon · · Score: 1

      I can use anything I get my hands on. I have windows servers I can RDP in from just about any device I have. I have Google Drive for my documentation that surpasses anything Microsoft has to offer, and again, I can have access from just about any device I have. I have SSH to manage my Linux Servers, which I have access from just about any device I have.

      So, I am not sure what you mean by "actual work" ;)

      I've tried SSH over phone to my servers, works nicely for monitoring, works terrible for writing code. YMMV.

    11. Re:Desktop Windows has more users than X11/Linux by roman_mir · · Score: 1

      What exactly do you define as 'work'?

    12. Re:Desktop Windows has more users than X11/Linux by Fwipp · · Score: 2

      Agreed, I've done it a few times for easy or urgent bugs, and it's not fun.

      Interestingly, as much as I love vim on the desktop, it's so much more useful (comparatively) when you're stuck on a phone keyboard.

    13. Re:Desktop Windows has more users than X11/Linux by Archangel+Michael · · Score: 1

      I can write programs on ChromeOS just as easy as Windows or Mac. ChromeOS is Linux based. I can program fine on Raspberry Pi and Ardruino , with a keyboard ... just fine. What you lack is imagination. Your limitation is "proper".

      Or, as my dad used to say ... "A poor workman always blames his tools"

      --
      Agent K: A *person* is smart. People are dumb, stupid, panicky animals, and you know it.
    14. Re:Desktop Windows has more users than X11/Linux by Lussarn · · Score: 2

      So far as I can tell, Windows 10 has absolutely no developer advantages at all

      In the mobile and server fields, I'd agree. But in the desktop field, the advantage of Windows is in the economies of scale of having far more users than X11/Linux has.

      I'll be sure to tell the 1% of developers still building apps for desktop OS:es.

      Newflash: It's a dead market. The web won.

    15. Re:Desktop Windows has more users than X11/Linux by K.+S.+Kyosuke · · Score: 1

      Which is kind of weird, because if you're using, say, a cross-compiler, what's the difference?

      --
      Ezekiel 23:20
    16. Re:Desktop Windows has more users than X11/Linux by F.Ultra · · Score: 1

      But that is not "touch based running on your phone", ChromeOS, Raspberry Pi and Arduino are full computers albeit with slightly less powerful hardware and does not a touch based phone.

    17. Re:Desktop Windows has more users than X11/Linux by thegarbz · · Score: 4, Funny

      But what device do you use to do actual work then?

      I do all my real written on by phone. I can't think of anything else that souls by neuter. Isn't in typing this puts using predictive heresies to you right vote.

      - Posted from a Samsung Galaxy S. Please forgive the typos.

    18. Re:Desktop Windows has more users than X11/Linux by F.Ultra · · Score: 2

      I once believed that too and used exclusively laptops for many years. However once I moved back to a proper desktop at work it was like being freed from a prison camp and going into this nice big mansion (and I'm not talking about the Spencer Mansion here). Have played around with ssh from the first iPAQ to my current Note 4 and it's cumbersome, slow and awkward.

    19. Re:Desktop Windows has more users than X11/Linux by newbie_fantod · · Score: 1, Informative

      Didn't read the TFA, but from the summary, it seems to me that the whole point this plea is to recruit highly skilled testers who'll work for free (as in beer)

    20. Re:Desktop Windows has more users than X11/Linux by dunkelfalke · · Score: 1

      The article about hype driven programming fits very well here.

      --
      "It's such a fine line between stupid and clever" -- David St. Hubbins, Spinal Tap
    21. Re:Desktop Windows has more users than X11/Linux by roman_mir · · Score: 2

      I've been on Linux as a desktop for over 15 years now, I don't know what people are talking about when they are saying what you are saying, that there will be no Linux on the desktop. So if that's true, then what have I been using all this time?

    22. Re:Desktop Windows has more users than X11/Linux by bondsbw · · Score: 2

      The article was not written by Microsoft. And Microsoft has made it ubuntantly clear (couldn't help myself) that they are providing a native Ubuntu image that runs on top of the Windows Subsystem for Linux.

      A Canonical representative was present at the announcement and said the following:

      it's the exact same root filesystem, the same root tarball, identical--bit for bit, checksum for checksum--as Ubuntu in Azure, or any other public cloud, on a bear metal machine or virtual machine if you install Ubuntu, or if you are running Ubuntu in a Docker container or LXD container or any other container

      It's identical to what you would download off Canonical's site except:
      - WSL translates user mode system calls to the NT kernel instead of using a real Linux kernel
      - requisite init tweaks from the default (since it isn't actually booting the machine)

      --
      All my liberal friends think I'm a conservative, all my conservative friends think I'm a liberal.
    23. Re:Desktop Windows has more users than X11/Linux by Grishnakh · · Score: 1

      Your dad was an idiot.

      For proof, try this exercise: take a piece of lumber, and cut it accurately in half. You only get one tool to do this job: a hammer.

    24. Re:Desktop Windows has more users than X11/Linux by Grishnakh · · Score: 1

      I went the opposite way for the most part: I just use laptops, including at home. I really like big dual monitors, a full-size keyboard, a real mouse, and that's how laptops are. The key phrase here is "docking station". And when I need to take my computer on the road with me, one button converts all this to a portable form factor, though of course I can't use dual monitors and such in a coffee shop.

    25. Re:Desktop Windows has more users than X11/Linux by Archangel+Michael · · Score: 1

      "Year of Linux on the Desktop" is when Linux overtakes Windows/MacOS on the "Desktop". You probably already know this, and are just being pedantic.

      Besides, you're not running "Linux" on the desktop. You're probably running Gnome or KDE, both work fine on some BSD and other Unixes.

      --
      Agent K: A *person* is smart. People are dumb, stupid, panicky animals, and you know it.
    26. Re:Desktop Windows has more users than X11/Linux by Archangel+Michael · · Score: 1

      Touch is a different class input, not the OS it is running on. Yes, there is Touch based ChromeOS systems out there. I am sure I can find a full size Android "desktop" out there that runs with a Mouse/Keyboard OR Touch just fine ,,, hey look ... https://www.cnet.com/how-to/ru...

      The point being (which I am sure you're missing on purpose) is that "Windows" (or Mac) is not just the ONLY "desktop" out there.

      --
      Agent K: A *person* is smart. People are dumb, stupid, panicky animals, and you know it.
    27. Re:Desktop Windows has more users than X11/Linux by roman_mir · · Score: 5, Informative

      My desktop being my computer, right? I am running Mint right now with xfce on my laptop, 2 monitors, one with a bunch of terminal sessions, another with a browser (the one I am posting this from).

      I don't need anything to overtake anything for me to have my desktop based on a GNU/Linux distro, I am not being 'pedantic', I seriously don't understand people who are talking about it this way. My year of Linux on a desktop happened back in 2001.

    28. Re:Desktop Windows has more users than X11/Linux by See+Attached · · Score: 1

      I have two big screens (tm) with gnome Terminal on each... and a lot of tabs on each. but I also have a laptop adjacent running windows. Have we turned a corner and found a niche for WinXX?

      --
      Time for a new Political party in the US (or two!) One is off the rails Other cant pony up a leader.
    29. Re:Desktop Windows has more users than X11/Linux by See+Attached · · Score: 1

      PDA-Net and Wifi Hotspot work great for WinXX -> VPN -> Work, if you can do some weekend stop-gap that way.. plus,. cant hear the outboard motor over the CLI session.

      --
      Time for a new Political party in the US (or two!) One is off the rails Other cant pony up a leader.
    30. Re:Desktop Windows has more users than X11/Linux by losfromla · · Score: 1

      lol

      --
      Only I can judge you.
    31. Re:Desktop Windows has more users than X11/Linux by johnnys · · Score: 2, Interesting

      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...
    32. Re:Desktop Windows has more users than X11/Linux by Archangel+Michael · · Score: 1

      Good for you. I first ran Linux as my primary "Desktop" in 1998. Early versions of XFCE, Gnome, KDE ... I've tried them all. They weren't good until about 2004ish.

      Other OSes I've tried, BeOS, OS/2 (before and after Warp) (IMHO the best "Desktop OS") and GEM. You know where I am now? I am in the "I don't give a fuck what OS is in front of me" as long as I can get my work done. Just had a conversation with a colleague about how to configure Switches with a Chromebook, said it wasn't possible. I put the requirements together in 3 minutes. Give me the tools, I can do it. Tell me I can't, and I'll try to prove you wrong.

      And yes, you are being Pedantic. The "Year of Linux on the Desktop" wasn't the year a GUI came out for Linux, and never was. IT was about mainstreaming Linux, which has happened while everyone was looking at replacing Windows/MacOS on Intel PCs, Linux went to ARM and beyond and is now running everything that is currently used "as a desktop", including the servers driving the web pages to your "Browser" (big fucking whoopdeedoo from a guy running Netscape Browser and Webserver since 97). And with your lowish UID, you should know this bit of history.

      --
      Agent K: A *person* is smart. People are dumb, stupid, panicky animals, and you know it.
    33. Re:Desktop Windows has more users than X11/Linux by rtb61 · · Score: 1

      The whole point is to turn Linux coders into proctologists pushing Windows probe 10 and get them to help M$ do the good work of prying into everyone privacy. Privacy a human right, no surely not, it is a product to be bought, sold and traded, to enable mass end user manipulation and to establish tight corporate controls over the unruly majority.

      Time for a push back and the legislation of the right to privacy for all citizens.

      --
      Chaos - everything, everywhere, everywhen
    34. Re:Desktop Windows has more users than X11/Linux by Lisias · · Score: 1

      Or, as my dad used to say ... "A poor workman always blames his tools"

      My grandpa used to say "Use the right tool to the job : don't blame the pipe wrench for destroying the nut if you are too cheap to buy a proper nut wrench.". He was a mechanic.

      Doing serious, professional programming using a Raspberry Pi when you are better served by a i5 with 8G RAM is just... childish.

      --
      Lisias@Earth.SolarSystem.OrionArm.MilkyWay.Local.Virgo.Universe.org
    35. Re:Desktop Windows has more users than X11/Linux by Archangel+Michael · · Score: 1

      Where is my "NIH" syndrome. Yes, there are correct tools to do just about everything we do. Doesn't mean they are always handy, or available. Knowing how to build with existing tools is one thing, knowing how to build tools you need to build something bigger is what YOU aren't seeing for what it is.

      Yes, we can build brick houses with bricks others make, but can we make effective bricks with the time comes?

      Anyone can build a fire by rubbing two sticks together, but can you build a furnace with that fire?

      I can build a furnace with the bricks I made, and the fire I created to make molten metal, which I can use to forge steel into knives and hammers. And with that forge, and steel I can build a lathe and build a saw. A poor workman will complain that he has no tools, blame the tools he does have, because he simply doesn't understand what a workman can do with the tools he has.

      And something has been lost on a generation that has no ability to make anything from nothing. Please take a moment out of your day and start watching people build stuff with their hands. They don't always have the perfect tool handy, and make do with what they do have.

      --
      Agent K: A *person* is smart. People are dumb, stupid, panicky animals, and you know it.
    36. Re:Desktop Windows has more users than X11/Linux by fisted · · Score: 1

      My phone can connect to an external display, keyboard and mouse. I can do anything from my modern handheld PC that you could do on an archaic desktop PC.

      Just how hand-held is it after you hooked it up to that. And no, off the top of my head, here are three things you cannot do from your modern stationary phone that I can do on my archaic desktop:
      1. dissipate power
      2. connect an ethernet cable
      3. replace hardware

    37. Re:Desktop Windows has more users than X11/Linux by LVSlushdat · · Score: 1

      Good God, WHAT AN ABORTION!! If I want to run Linux, I'm going to run NATIVE LINUX.. I used/supported the Windows ecosystem for close to 20 years but decided I was done when I retired in 2010. Now its 100% Linux.. FUCK MS...

      --
      THANK YOU, Edward Snowden!! Americans owe you a debt of gratitude (whether they know it or not..)
    38. Re:Desktop Windows has more users than X11/Linux by Grishnakh · · Score: 1

      You don't have materials to build a lathe and saw. You have a piece of lumber, and a hammer, and that's it. Your task is to accurately cut the lumber in half, with the hammer.

      Can you do it? No? I guess you're a poor craftsman, blaming your tools.

    39. Re:Desktop Windows has more users than X11/Linux by Grishnakh · · Score: 1

      BTW, I have a second task for you. I want you to build a chest of drawers. Your tool: a pair of chopsticks.

    40. Re: Desktop Windows has more users than X11/Linux by bondsbw · · Score: 1

      Haha don't let the door hit ya...

      Meanwhile I will use the best OS for the job, without rebooting or a VM penalty.

      --
      All my liberal friends think I'm a conservative, all my conservative friends think I'm a liberal.
    41. Re: Desktop Windows has more users than X11/Linux by donaldm · · Score: 1

      Making something out of nothing violates physical laws. Are you God?

      > su -

      # Yes!

      --
      There ain't no such thing as proprietary standards only proprietary formats. Standards are by definition open.
    42. Re:Desktop Windows has more users than X11/Linux by donaldm · · Score: 1

      BTW, I have a second task for you. I want you to build a chest of drawers. Your tool: a pair of chopsticks.

      > su -

      # god_build --tool chopsticks --output "Chest of draws" --colour dark_wood_stain --drow 2 --dcolumn 3 --height 1.3m --width 2.5m --depth 0.7m --special "add mirror"

      You will have to wait a little for delivery since my "god_delivery" software was outsourced and I have a few daemons to purge from the program. That will teach me to allow so-called trusted helpers "sudo" access, I mean putting a "registry" in the main program what were they thinking?

      --
      There ain't no such thing as proprietary standards only proprietary formats. Standards are by definition open.
    43. Re:Desktop Windows has more users than X11/Linux by short · · Score: 1

      Android is not Linux OS (AKA GNU/Linux). Android is Android OS - it has its own Java API. It runs on Linux kernel but it could run even BSD kernel and nobody would notice. Android does not even run glibc. I do not know much ChromeOS but it is also not a Linux OS. Are there apps like LibreOffice, Balsa, GIMP etc.? No, they run only web applications (even offline). Not even trying to talk about Linux commandline applications. There is no Linux desktop as while I like Linux apps it is obvious general users dislike Linux apps for some unknown reason.

    44. Re: Desktop Windows has more users than X11/Linux by fisted · · Score: 1

      That's because you're an idiot. Have you never been to a party or event where there was free beer?
      It's "free as in free beer", provided there actually *is* free beer, which does happen occasionally. It does in no way imply that beer would generally be free, that's frankly something I would expect only autistic people to not realize or understand.

    45. Re:Desktop Windows has more users than X11/Linux by jakogut · · Score: 1

      > It even runs on just about every other micro-controller like Raspberry Pi and Arduino. Pi, yes. Arduino, no. There simply isn't enough memory, and no one's bothered to port the code, because the processor capable enough to run a general purpose multi-user OS at a useful speed.

    46. Re:Desktop Windows has more users than X11/Linux by tepples · · Score: 1

      I can write programs on ChromeOS just as easy as Windows or Mac. ChromeOS is Linux based.

      Can you write programs that run in an environment other than a web browser? And can you use languages other than JavaScript (or a language that transpiles to JavaScript)?

    47. Re:Desktop Windows has more users than X11/Linux by tepples · · Score: 1

      Sure, there's a few apps that don't work but then there's Wine and virtualization.

      Neither work on an ARM device, and virtualization incurs operating system license costs.

    48. Re:Desktop Windows has more users than X11/Linux by tepples · · Score: 1

      Just had a conversation with a colleague about how to configure Switches with a Chromebook, said it wasn't possible. I put the requirements together in 3 minutes. Give me the tools, I can do it. Tell me I can't, and I'll try to prove you wrong.

      Can someone destroy your tools by turning on your Chromebook and pressing Space Enter?

    49. Re:Desktop Windows has more users than X11/Linux by tepples · · Score: 1

      The web won.

      Good luck doing anything detailed with "The web" while riding the bus or train. A smartphone has a screen too small to hold a useful amount of information, and I doubt most laptop owners own an aircard with a valid cellular data plan.

    50. Re:Desktop Windows has more users than X11/Linux by tepples · · Score: 1

      Desktops became laptops, became Smart Phones. The modern "desktop" is touch based running on your phone.

      And if I want to have more than one window open, I have to buy more phones. How is that an optimal situation?

    51. Re:Desktop Windows has more users than X11/Linux by tepples · · Score: 1

      A laptop is "mobile" in a sense but runs desktop apps. If you exclude laptops from "mobile", what evidence do you have that a "mobile" device with a clip-on keyboard is a close substitute for virtually all laptop use cases?

      "Server" is useless without an Internet connection. Should people A. buy only a home Internet connection and remain offline while riding the bus, B. buy only a cellular Internet connection and be limited to single digit GB/mo, or C. spend twice as much for both?

    52. Re:Desktop Windows has more users than X11/Linux by fisted · · Score: 1

      The point being (which I am sure you're missing on purpose) is that "Windows" (or Mac) is not just the ONLY "desktop" out there.

      How does this have anything to do with what was being discussed? How was that ever 'the point' here?

    53. Re:Desktop Windows has more users than X11/Linux by vandamme · · Score: 1

      What typos? Yore spelling is impeachable.

    54. Re:Desktop Windows has more users than X11/Linux by jrumney · · Score: 1

      The init system in modern Ubuntu is systemd, maybe upstart if they are still using an older LTS version. Last I checked, both of those are part of the root filesystem.

    55. Re:Desktop Windows has more users than X11/Linux by Shane_Optima · · Score: 1

      The claim as I understand it is it's the same as other paravirt Ubuntu installs, not that it's the same as the bare metal ISOs you see on Ubuntu's website. If it's true that MS basically just created a paravirt driver for Linux (not to be confused with creating a user mode kernel for Windows)... I suppose that could be handy for anyone who really, really needs full native Windows speeds for certain tasks, but everyone else is surely better off doing the opposite running Linux as the host and Windows virtualized for the odds and ends that require Windows.

      Maybe worth noting there are third party PV drivers for Windows for better performance, at least for the Xen / Qubes platforms.

    56. Re:Desktop Windows has more users than X11/Linux by Shane_Optima · · Score: 1

      As I said above, the confusion is they were saying "the same as Ubuntu installs other paravirt-enabled VM/container platforms", not "the same as a bare metal Ubuntu install." OP switched to explaining the difference between these two things towards the end of his post, perhaps a little confusingly.

    57. Re:Desktop Windows has more users than X11/Linux by LifesABeach · · Score: 1

      That which allows me to pay the monthly rent and buy food.

    58. Re:Desktop Windows has more users than X11/Linux by LifesABeach · · Score: 1

      Poor A/C, one can never be clean enough after developing on Windows.

    59. Re: Desktop Windows has more users than X11/Linux by fisted · · Score: 1

      Except he didn't say "free as in free beer"

      The second "free" is redundant and hence implied. I only explicitly mentioned it to explain the phrase to you...

      (which really makes no sense

      ...apparently unsuccessfully so, sigh. It must suck to be this dumb.

      because you could substitute beer with anything in that case, such as "free as in free cars")

      Just how often do you get "free cars" in the real world, my severely challenged friend? Okay, okay. Presumably as often as you get free beer, but for the rest of the world, "free beer" is actually not the rarest thing in the world. It tends to correlate with a bit of a social life outside mom's basement, though.

      he said "free as in beer".

      So you are able to read. Next step: reading comprehension.

      Note that he never said "free beer".

      He didn't need to (hint: that's what the big-boy word "implied" means, in the paragraph above)

      You should have paid attention in school. Illiteracy is a horrible thing.

      Pot, meet Kettle.

  15. No. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Remove the forced updates and spyware first.

  16. Re:Uh... sure. How much is worth to you? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    As someone who uses Windows almost exclusively, I want to add that I plan to never use Windows 10. I'll be moving to Linux or BSD or some such, so at least as far as selling/offering anything to me is concerned, developing for Windows 10 is worthless.

  17. Re:So much hostility by mark-t · · Score: 2

    This reads a lot like telling someone who already owns a house and is completely free of their mortgage that they should just throw all caution to the wind, give their house away to some random stranger, and spend the next 25 years paying for a new home with less than half of the square footage and no basement.

  18. With Canonicals help by Eravnrekaree · · Score: 1

    Unfortunately it is the airheads at Canonical that helped them with this. It was obvious that this would help Windows only and Ubuntu showed themselves to be so clueless and easily taken advantage of to go along with it. It is an advantage on the MS side since it gives people a reason to use Windows rather than Linux and thus hurt the Linux kernel. Of course many people know that Windows will take away the ability to control and audit the OS and would bring people under the enslavement of the Windows OS, a black box that microsoft can use to exploit and control its users.If Ubuntu really was competent they would have made it possible to run Windows hardware drivers and Windows Apps on Linux, which is really what would help people get off of Windows. And I dont mean the glitch prone, pathetic, 50% application compatability that Wine has, which is just not good enough, for average users would need to be 99%.

    1. Re:With Canonicals help by MightyMartian · · Score: 1

      Honestly, I stopped using Ubuntu about six years ago, and went with straight-up Debian (though SystemD has irritated me a bit). I have no intention of returning to Ubuntu.

      --
      The world's burning. Moped Jesus spotted on I50. Details at 11.
    2. Re:With Canonicals help by orange_account · · Score: 1

      From someone considering doing the same, what (if any) issues or even nuisances have you come across in your switch?

    3. Re:With Canonicals help by MightyMartian · · Score: 1

      None that I can think of. The reason for the initial move was that the Ubuntu Apache 2 package was a bit screwy at the compiler level, and moving to Debian definitely fixed that problem and Apache performed as it did under CentOS and Slackware. A lot of time has passed, so I can't really say if you'll many roadblocks.

      --
      The world's burning. Moped Jesus spotted on I50. Details at 11.
    4. Re:With Canonicals help by Dwedit · · Score: 1

      Wat? They could have used any distro for this, didn't have to be Ubuntu. Once you have Kernel land all nice and emulated, you can take any linux Userland and run it on there.

    5. Re:With Canonicals help by uncle+slacky · · Score: 1

      There's Devuan or MX-16 if you prefer Debian without systemd.

      --
      Windows is like the faint smell of piss in a subway: it's there, and there's nothing you can do about it.
  19. Java Apache by mwvdlee · · Score: 1

    Why would I EVER want to run Java from Apache?
    This guy is just throwing around some random buzzwords he remembers from the previous decade.

    --
    Slashdot social media options: AIM, ICQ, Yahoo, Jabber and Mobile Text. Why no MySpace?
    1. Re:Java Apache by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Build a web app on Windows, in Java, that connects to a database from Oracle?

      Been there, done that. I'd be tempted to pour gasoline on myself and light a match rather than do it again.

    2. Re:Java Apache by tigersha · · Score: 1

      Why would I EVER want to run Apache instead of nginx is more the question. As for IIS, just no.

      --
      The dangers of excessive individualism are nothing compared to the oppressiveness of excessive collectivism
  20. Advantages of Windows? For development? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

    "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"

    lol, wut?

    There has never been a time developing on Linux where I thought, "gee, I wish I were on Windows right now." When I'm on Windows, I hate it. Everything is so tedious on Windows, and everything from the registry to using escape characters for path delimiters just makes no sense.

    1. Re:Advantages of Windows? For development? by tigersha · · Score: 1

      "Tedious". That is the best way to describe it, yes.

      Windows is weird in that way. Everything is always tedious.

      --
      The dangers of excessive individualism are nothing compared to the oppressiveness of excessive collectivism
  21. Fuck You Microsoft and your Cult Dogma by UnknownSoldier · · Score: 1

    I develop daily on OSX, Linux, and Windows. Guess what, ALL operating systems SUCK. The strengths of one tend to be the weakness of others.

    Windows 7 works perfectly fine for my needs. I neither want nor need your spyware laden Windows 10.

  22. HELL NO!! by higuita · · Score: 1

    Please go monkey dance "developers!" to your visualbasic developers instead!
    Even if we can run linux tools on windows kernel, the system is still to heavy, outside our control... and have a still shitty company behind, just look to all the user tracking MS added to it and "edge is safer than firefox and chrome" bullshit... not, MS is still a shitty company

    on the good side... MS is clearly jumping to the "then you win" step from the First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win.

    --
    Higuita
  23. Begging? by HumanWiki · · Score: 1

    If your platform is good, then you don't have to beg people to use it.

  24. Re: So much hostility by Billly+Gates · · Score: 1

    From what I see what MS wants is developer Mindshare and visual studio. As developers move to cloud, mobile, and html 5 it risks becoming irrelevant.

    Visual Studio 2017 has Android, Linux, mono, typescript, Python, and other tool support. So MS is porting it for these reasons as setting a Hyper-V VM running Linux can be a pain.

    So this is good as competition keeps bad companies good

  25. Fuck No by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    been there done that.
    As John McEnrow said, 'You can't be serious'.

    Why would any Linux dev want to use an OS that is patent encumbered, not free, controlled by a Patent Troll and one where you the user is not in control but MS is.

    Can I have some of what you are smoking please. It must be good stuff.

  26. Re:So much hostility by fisted · · Score: 5, Funny

    no basement.

    Deal breaker.

  27. as if. by Thud457 · · Score: 1

    host your website on NOT IIS , access your NOT SQL Server database

    Wow, somebody's trying to get NOT EMPLOYED today.

    --

    the preceding comment is my own and in no way reflects the opinion of the Joint Chiefs of Staff

    1. Re:as if. by tigersha · · Score: 1

      Hah. Just last week, a buddy of mine asked me to solve a problem they had with PHP on IIS. Some stupid thing about a temp file, wasted 8 hours finding it. I have not often worked with PHP, and never with IIS. I showed him and his employer how this works with Unix (MacOS/X in that case) and PHP. He almost got fired (new on the job). I got a nice check for consulting. The will run Unix now.

      --
      The dangers of excessive individualism are nothing compared to the oppressiveness of excessive collectivism
  28. Advantages of Windows 10? by QuietLagoon · · Score: 1

    Advantages for whom? Microsoft and its extreme data harvesting?

  29. Irony by cmiller173 · · Score: 1

    The irony here is that my experience with Windows 10 is what finally drove me to switch to Linux full time on my personal laptop.

    1. Re:Irony by gestalt_n_pepper · · Score: 1

      I'm in the same boat. Once I looked at the stream of data being sent back to Microsoft, I formatted my remaining laptops with Linux Mint. If I have to use Windows (I only use Windows 7) for a project, I spin it up in a VM.

      I see no advantage to Windows 10 whatsoever. It's the spyware that interrupts ("How are you enjoying this App?") or worse, plays sneaky Pete and does things without your permission or actively misleads you (e.g. making the X actually download and install a brand new OS).

      No, Microsoft has its agenda, but it's not mine, or any other developer's that I know.

      Let them have their OS, all by themselves. Neither I nor my clients give a damn.

      --
      Please do not read this sig. Thank you.
  30. Sure, Get Windows 10... by CAOgdin · · Score: 1

    ...so they can use their "telemetry" to sell you to advertisers.

    Great argument, there, Microsoft. Since changing all the end-user agreements so they're all biased toward M$'s income, and their operational assumption that YOU bought your computer, but M$ owns it, lock, stock and barrel...sure, let's all start using the unnecessary and irrelevant "Windows 10" layer to build Linux apps on.

    Bellevue seems to be surrounded by mirrors, reflecting every image back to it's occupants.

  31. but this one is the worst yet! by orange_account · · Score: 2

    I use Linux because I care a lot about my freedom and privacy. Why would I subject myself to such an OS/product in stark contrast with what I care about, and as a developer, create things to encourage others to do so too? Come back when you care more about freedom and privacy than about maximum profits.... see you never.

  32. Re:I tried that once by orange_account · · Score: 1

    You're missing the point. It's a matter of which factors are most important. There are many times when it's more convenient to use a non-free tool, but it is still reasonable for someone to decide that the loss of freedom outweighs the gained convenience.

  33. open source includes platform by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    the problem is s lot of linux user do so because of ideology.

    1. Re:open source includes platform by Anne+Thwacks · · Score: 1
      the problem is a lot of linux users do so because of Windows

      FTFY

      --
      Sent from my ASR33 using ASCII
    2. Re:open source includes platform by eam3 · · Score: 1

      I have been using Windows since version 3.0 and stuck with them the entire time. However, I started using Linux Mint a couple of years ago and saw the light. I honestly do not see any reason to continue with Windows at home. Even my wife's 4 year old Toshiba laptop - dual core Celeron - runs like a beast since I upgraded it (SSD and 8GB of RAM) and threw Linux Mint on it. Noticeably faster than her friend's brand new Dell (HDD, i7 and 16GB of RAM) with Windows 10. Last night the anniversary update killed my shares on my dual boot machine and I had to spend some time fixing something that should have never broken in the first place. I too am tired of the telemetry, the constant advertising, the bloatware but most of all: Microsoft's arrogance. Windows 10 will remain on my current PC at home because my wife uses it but for my own future PCs, Linux will be the default OS.

  34. "Fire Up..." by Cornwallis · · Score: 1

    "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... "so our telemetry system can steal your code, your tools and your personal information."

    FTFY

  35. Over my dead Zune! by Tablizer · · Score: 5, Funny

    Over my dead Zune!

  36. Commercial and OpenSource by Roger+W+Moore · · Score: 1

    Why the fuck would any Linux developer want to do this?

    Mainly because some of us have jobs where we need to use commercial applications Illustrator, MS Office etc. for teaching and admin and yet still want to be able to code for research. It used to be that many of us in this situation used Macs because they combined an underlying UNIX OS with the ability to run commercial software. Sadly Apple is going off the rails now and while I used to despise Windows XP and earlier (the last ones I ever really encountered), Windows 10 is a very different beast.

    I've only been playing with it for a couple of weeks and that's on a desktop not a laptop but so far I have been impressed and intend to migrate over to a Dell XPS or Surface Book in the next month or so rather than to the obscenely priced and hardware challenged new MacBook Pros. You get roughly the same mix of UNIX development shell and environment with the ability to run commercial software. It's not as polished as OS X but Apple do not sell any modern desktop machine with a GPU and without a built in monitor and this way I always have the option to dump Windows and revert entirely to Linux and then run Windows as a VM with PCI passthrough for the GPU if the Linux subsystem does not work out.

    1. Re:Commercial and OpenSource by Blaskowicz · · Score: 1

      There's still the Mac mini I guess? Before you puke in horror, that's the most desktop-ish machine left it seems. Oh crap, 16GB RAM on the base model is a +$300 upgrade so that's $800 for a low end high RAM machine. Twice the storage of a Macbook Pro, though, because it uses a low end hard drive.

      and revert entirely to Linux and then run Windows as a VM with PCI passthrough for the GPU if the Linux subsystem does not work out.

      I'm very wary of this working on a laptop or a Surface lapblettop, I am thinking this requires BIOS support and hypervisor support and I don't know if it's that mundane of a feature today. Maybe it's decently available on "gaming" and plain desktop motherboards (bought on their own, not as part of a branded desktop). Maybe I'm overly cautious and modern UEFI makes it more widely available? It's something I'd have to triple-check if I want to get hardware to do it.

    2. Re:Commercial and OpenSource by Roger+W+Moore · · Score: 1

      There's still the Mac mini I guess?

      I already have one but it too is getting old and Apple have crippled all the new ones by only releasing them with dual core CPUs so that they have less CPU power than a laptop.

      I'm very wary of this working on a laptop or a Surface lapblettop

      It works on my mac laptop at the moment when I really need to run a Linux VM. For the laptop I would do it differently though and probably run Windows as the host OS with linux in the VM. Unlike the new mac laptops with 32GB memory I expect a Windows laptop can easily handle a decent VM and this way I would not need to worry about PCI passthrough. In fact this probably makes more sense for the desktop as well.

    3. Re:Commercial and OpenSource by Blaskowicz · · Score: 1

      I find it impressive in a way that it works.
      So there were actual geeks working at Apple, and they're pissing away some advantages they had from vertical integration.

  37. Local BBQ joint asks Orthodox Jews to try pork by istartedi · · Score: 2

    Film at 11.

    --
    For all intensive purposes, "whom" is no longer a word. That begs the question, "who cares"?
    1. Re:Local BBQ joint asks Orthodox Jews to try pork by oddtodd · · Score: 1

      +1 Funny

      --
      I have plenty of common sense, I just choose to ignore it. -- Calvin
  38. Forget it by allo · · Score: 1

    Linux Developers know, why they use linux. They know windows. Of course, who doesn't. Most know OSX. And they are linux developers. And they know, how to do stuff efficiently on linux and what a PITA it is to use windows for the same things.
    Why does MS even think, they can convice them (expect with a lot of money, of course)? I guess the people who try an image campaign, never learned linux themselfes.

  39. It's pretty good by itamblyn · · Score: 1

    I actually did install this, and I have to say it's pretty good. MS did a decent job with this.

  40. "Advantages of Windows 10"...what are those? by GameboyRMH · · Score: 1

    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.

    I assume he means good compatibility with modern games and a greatly lightened wallet?

    --
    "When information is power, privacy is freedom" - Jah-Wren Ryel
  41. And the headline two years from now: by Lendrick · · Score: 1

    Microsoft Exec Urges Windows 10 Linux Compatibility Layer Developers To Try Native Windows 10 Code

    I mean, after all, you've switched to Windows. Why go through all the extra trouble of writing code that would run on Linux? We've got some wonderful vendor lock-in for you.

  42. We are on step 4 now! by a_n_d_e_r_s · · Score: 1

    First they ignore you,
    then they laugh at you,
    then they fight you,
    then you win.

    -- Mahatma Gandhi

    --
    Just saying it like it are.
  43. Certainly. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Right after Microsoft releases Office for Linux.

    1. Re:Certainly. by gtall · · Score: 2

      Not even then, Windows 'tis an abomination unto mine eyes. Never touch, for it is unclean. And Office isn't sweetening the deal.

    2. Re:Certainly. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Visual Studio for Linux wouldn't be a bad idea.
      Exchange for Linux would kill Windows.

    3. Re:Certainly. by fisted · · Score: 1

      Visual Studio for Linux wouldn't^H^H^H be a bad idea.
      Exchange for Linux would kill Windows^W^Wcause laughter and facepalm.

      FTFY

  44. Make it cost nothing and have zero telemetry... by gestalt_n_pepper · · Score: 1

    And maybe it will be worth my time to look at it, or not. Right now, Linux does everything I need. Unless there's a compelling advantage to Windows 10, then no.

    --
    Please do not read this sig. Thank you.
  45. What's better by rl117 · · Score: 1

    Why would it be desirable to run bash on Windows 10 when I'm going to get a better experience using bash on anything else be that Linux, BSD, either native or virtually. I can understand for some people this might be their only choice, but that doesn't make it good, it's just making the best of a bad situation. If they want me to try it, they'll have to make it better than on Linux, not just "good enough to ship". Because if I'm going to use Windows 10, it had better have some concrete benefit given all its massive downsides.

  46. Corporate environment or dual stack development by williamyf · · Score: 1

    If you are a developer working for a corporation, there are tools that run only in Windows (Outlook/Exchange, lotus notes come to mind). Instead of developing in Linux and using a VM for the Windows tools (with the corresponding comsumption of resourses of resources) you may as well develop in Windows10 altogether.

    Or, if corporate forces you to use Windows (I am Looking at you Huawei), instead of firing up a VM with linux, or using the half baked cygwin, you can develop on Win10 Bash...

    Or, if you develop applications that target more than one platform (say, windows and Linux), you may use Windows to develop and test for linux and windows, no VMs required.

    Or, if you fancy a specific piece of gear (say, a very fancy laptop) and do not want to have all the hassle with the drivers (yes, I know the windows situation is not Linux's fault, but is a fact of life.... :-( ), you can get it, and develop your linux SW on Windows 10...

    Or, if you are a gamer, and developer at the same time, you do not need no dualboot bodongles...

    These are but a few reasons that may entice a Linux developer to develop on Win10 Aniversay...

    --
    *** Suerte a todos y Feliz dia!
  47. Works for me by willoughby · · Score: 1

    I don't develop for Linux but I do build keyboards & program them using TMK or QMK firmware. Getting a development environment for this stuff installed in Windows in the past has been a bear. I just yesterday installed the Linux subsystem and it really does work. This is great 'cause I'm about to begin another keyboard project & I don't need to dual boot just to build the firmware.

  48. simple phrase for him. by Gravis+Zero · · Score: 1

    "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...

    Fuck you, PAY ME.

    --
    Anons need not reply. Questions end with a question mark.
  49. Poor X11 Support by PPH · · Score: 1

    No thanks.

    --
    Have gnu, will travel.
  50. Idiots. I swear. by poofmeisterp · · Score: 1

    Microsoft doing this is like asking a safety-conscious analytical security freak to yield their control for a moment to a control freak.

    We don't 'not use your OS' because of its lack of kernel-level power (the Windows 98 days were done a long time ago). We don't use it because it USES US. For eff's sake, you sound like an old 1980s Reagan-era "drug pusher" by making requests like that. "Just try it, you'll love it and want more! Here, I'll prove it by giving you some for free to try."

    I, personally, don't know of one single Linux developer OR user that hasn't experimented with Windows 10, in the retail storefront or outside of it, that hasn't just made a simple statement with a laugh like, "Oh. Yay. There's another one. This time they are taking more control away from the user. Gee, why don't I get on it right now?"
    That quote isn't exact, but it pretty much covers every individual I know in the OSS/Linux communit[y|ies].

  51. Might be controversial but its not bad at all by kangsterizer · · Score: 3, Interesting

    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.

    1. Re:Might be controversial but its not bad at all by kangsterizer · · Score: 1

      The part i missed in this: the new tools basically just made this better and also work well.

    2. Re:Might be controversial but its not bad at all by El_Muerte_TDS · · Score: 1

      Windows 10 might still be more productive, but it is less productive than Windows 7. With Windows 10 I've actually lost work due to it's surprise update and reboot policy (twice!). So no bathroom breaks for me during debugging sessions, and save my work like I'm working in MS Word 95 on Windows Me.

    3. Re:Might be controversial but its not bad at all by geekymachoman · · Score: 1

      Oh is it underrated ? Poor windows. No attention at all !
      How on earth you got modded +5 is beyond me. That nonsense about using Linux because of ideology is even worse than your Windows comments.

      For a power user, Windows is a joke. An OS* that people are often forced into using. Less and less thankfully. It's awesome for being disconnected from internet and running games on it though.

      * = Slowly mutating to become a locked down spyware/adware, instead of a locked down bug ridden children's desktop toy it once was.

    4. Re:Might be controversial but its not bad at all by kangsterizer · · Score: 1

      I dont think people realize that android, ios and osx spy on them just as much. They just dont show it.
      At least you can disable most of it in Win10 - though I'm sure they're learning from this and won't make it as obvious as it is now... which, yes, sux in all directions.

    5. Re:Might be controversial but its not bad at all by kangsterizer · · Score: 1

      Ok, let me know how I get my displayport to connect to my laptop via USB-C (lightbridge/thunderbolt) reliably, then we talk ;-)
      I did mention that I use Linux as my primary desktop - but I do use all others actively and Windows is definitely easier from this POV. For example, DP+USB-C just works.
      Everything pretty much just works. Your "3 apps and it crashes" is an obvious lie. A Windows fan would tell you the exact opposite (Linux?? 3 apps and it crashes and welcome to obscure command line copy paste to fix it! My windows can run 1000 processes np). (which is just as much bullshit, sorry)

    6. Re:Might be controversial but its not bad at all by kangsterizer · · Score: 1

      because, obviously, most people think my opinion is more interesting than yours right now.
      Basically, mine's very pragmatic, yours seems full of hatred.

  52. Deleted it by krray · · Score: 1

    I had Windows 10. Gave it a honest try. Piece of shit. Reminds me of Vista and Me...but slower and uglier. And they had to "move" everything. After 10 months or so I just realized I hated using it. So I deleted it -- last week actually.

    I have really only one need (left) to run Windows anything -- accounting & reporting software @ work. Windows for me has just become an annoyance appliance required to run a couple of windows.

    My "go to" today would be Windows 7. 32 bit is still faster (?) and 64 bit is problematic for the one 16 bit app __still__ in use. Ugh. I was just this past week deciding if I should just go back to XP to run the required apps. XP is still WAY faster than all of the above. It's not like Windows is used for web access anymore (or even has access to the Internet). It's just a intranet app layer...

    iOS in my pocket, MacOS on my desktop, and Linux for literally everything else -- IoT and every damn server I have.

    Fuck Microsoft.

  53. And the value proposition is what, exactly? by dskoll · · Score: 5, Insightful

    So let me get this straight. I should switch from a free development environment, that I can install on as many machines as I want, that doesn't feed me ads, that doesn't phone home with my information, that doesn't auto-update unless I configure it to and that ships with source code, to a system that costs money, costs more money to install on multiple machines, feeds me ads, phone home with my information, auto-updates by default and is closed-source?

    What's the value proposition here, again?

  54. Windows problem isn't technical. It's Microsoft. by WaffleMonster · · Score: 1

    Not interested in being spied upon by legions of Microsoft creepers and their friends.

    Neither do I have any interest in participating in crazy forced update experiments from the same company that fired most of it's QA staff a couple years ago.

    Microsoft has made moves over the last couple of years with unyielding upgrade harassment campaigns persistently ignoring users wishes and resorted to dirty underhanded UX tricks to fool people into installing Windows 10. Why should I or anyone else trust a company that behaves in this manner?

    There have always been UNIX ports of everything readily available to any windows user who wanted them going back literally decades. The problem isn't the tools or even the operating system. The problem is the COMPANY.

  55. Re:LOL - missed (point|boat) by See+Attached · · Score: 1

    Didn't anyone alert their marketing department that it doesn't really matter what device you are on.. and that the goodness is whats ON the Internet? A Belchfire 2020 running latest software from Frobnitz company sees the same CNN.com feed. Viewing platform is no longer relevant, as it was.

    --
    Time for a new Political party in the US (or two!) One is off the rails Other cant pony up a leader.
  56. They had to do something... by DidgetMaster · · Score: 1

    ...when they learned that President Trump was going to cut off all their cheap access to H-1B visa labor. They need to replace all those testers with free labor out in the community. Seems logical since so many open-source advocates spend lots of their personal time coding for free anyway....

  57. Such as? by markdavis · · Score: 1

    >"all without losing the advantages of Windows 10. "

    Such as? Malware? Single-platform browsers? Spyware? Thanks but no thanks, happy with Linux native!

  58. Awesome! by alexandre · · Score: 1

    Cause I really wanted more overhead, licences and emulations layers to debug, yééé!

  59. Why by JThundley · · Score: 1

    Advantages of Windows 10? What advantages?

    and importantly file bugs on us.

    Oh, you want free help. Just say so next time please.

  60. "Improvements to Bash on Windows" by rs1n · · Score: 1

    So they're providing "Improvements to Bash on Windows and the Windows Console." Here I thought people did fairly well bashing Windows all on their own. Little did I know they were working on better ways to bash their OS.

  61. It's official, they are no longer evil... by RhettLivingston · · Score: 1

    just bat$h!t crazy. I'm serious. These guys are on another plane of reality. I can't even call it psycho because it psycho is never funny. Kooky. The house is empty. Batty. Loony. Bonkers. Loopy. Mad as a hatter.

  62. Yes, Microsoft, that's what I will do by OneHundredAndTen · · Score: 1

    In your dreams. Consider yourself middle-fingered once more, Microsoft.

  63. Unix developer - feedback on Windows by Shompol · · Score: 1
    I work on Windows 7, and it has a never-ending list of issues that should not exist. I will probably go ahead and create a blog of windows woes, but here is a quick summary off the top of my head:
    1. - A file that is open somewhere cannot be touched. It does not matter if it has been months since it was last open, what matters if Windows *thinks* it is open.
    2. - Some simple filenames are illegal. You will find which ones when a client is using your program.
    3. - Command line and command line tools are unusable or not-existent. Better use Cygwin
    4. - Sometimes it does not let you touch a file that you created.
    5. - Sometimes you, an Administrator, do not have permission to change permissions.... on a file that you created.
    6. - Should you win the war on permissions, it will not let you touch your file because "the file is open". (see #1 above)

    Were [any] of these resolved in Windows 10?

    1. Re:Unix developer - feedback on Windows by Megane · · Score: 1

      Some simple filenames are illegal. You will find which ones when a client is using your program.

      COM3 on, don't let them CON you, when you're on the CLOCK$ is $ and you can't be wasting time! You have to put all LPT that behind you!

      --
      #naabhaprzrag, #sverubfr-000, #agi-fcbafberq, negvpyr[pynff*=' negvpyr-ary-'] { qvfcynl: abar !vzcbegnag; }
  64. Re: LOL - missed (point|boat) by ArmoredDragon · · Score: 2

    Same reason nobody uses the windows store: Few developers write applications for it.

    If you want to write a desktop application (which few people do anymore; it's all about web applications these days) win32 tends to be your best target.

    Meanwhile, if you want to write server side application, Linux tends to be your best target.

  65. Why Not? by BrendaEM · · Score: 1

    Know they enemy... so MS can gather all the data on the users.

    --
    https://www.youtube.com/c/BrendaEM
  66. Give me one good reason!? by maharvey · · Score: 1

    (hint: I'm holding up one finger)

  67. Sauron invites Frodo to Mordor by Tough+Love · · Score: 1

    No grass to mow here, see, and you don't even have to pretend to be nice!

    --
    When all you have is a hammer, every problem starts to look like a thumb.
  68. Like I care by JustAnotherOldGuy · · Score: 1

    "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.

    Like I care what makes the lives of Microsoft employees easier? Fuck off.

    I should change my whole dev process and tool chain to make their lives easier? Fuck off.

    Buy a copy of Windows so I can install a LAMP stack under it and run it all in a VM? Fuck off.

    --
    Just cruising through this digital world at 33 1/3 rpm...
    1. Re:Like I care by Ash-Fox · · Score: 1

      Buy a copy of Windows so I can install Ubuntu's userland and run a LAMP stack natively under Windows?

      FTFY

      --
      Change is certain; progress is not obligatory.
  69. Yeah... But no by oldgunpraa · · Score: 1

    Thanks but no thanks.

  70. Re:LOL - missed (point|boat) by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    Of the people who actually know what an operating system is, a fairly large proportion use Linux. The vast majority of the population, however, has never installed an operating system and doesn't really know what one is. They just use whatever comes with their device, and sometimes get excited when a new version automatically updates, although they don't really have any idea what they're actually getting. Consider, for example the Windows 10 forced update you mentioned. Most of the people getting that update had no choice because they didn't know how to stop it and didn't really understand what was happening. So, to my view, those people don't really count when discussing what operating system people choose

  71. Name one... by mjm1231 · · Score: 1

    all without losing the advantages of Windows 10

    Um, and these would be? I'm a non-developer MS sysadmin who works with Windows all day, but uses Linux on all my home computers. I can't think of any... other than to use for managing users who are stuck in a Microsoft ecosystem. Once Powershell for linux gets a working method for creating a remote shell (specifically, to Office365), there won't even be that left.

    --
    Ideology: A tool used primarily to avoid the bother of thinking.
  72. I now do my Linux development on Windows by EmperorOfCanada · · Score: 1

    One of the key changes that took place in some version of windows since I stopped using windows was that I can use the / for a directory path separator. With this change a huge amount of what I develop for linux can now be first made on Windows and then ported. It is so so so much easier to develop C++ for windows first, then fight with linux after.

    I use Linux for servers extensively, and Windows server doesn't stand a chance. But I am sick of everything on Linux being a fight. Visual Studio just works. Intelisense, just works, compiling, just works. Apps install and work. yum and apt-get made installing libraries quite a bit easier, but a huge difference is that while the OS in linux often depended upon certain libraries being certain versions. Windows usually doesn't give a crap as to what Qt I have installed. Thus I install the one that I want and not worry about breaking the OS itself.

    1. Re:I now do my Linux development on Windows by Tough+Love · · Score: 1

      the OS in linux often depended upon certain libraries being certain versions.

      Huh? Why have I never seen that in all these years?

      Windows usually doesn't give a crap as to what Qt I have installed. Thus I install the one that I want and not worry about breaking the OS itself.

      I think you have that backwards. I have two different versions of QT installed right now, and both work fine. Break the OS itself? You're not talking about Linux. Not sure what you are talking about.

      --
      When all you have is a hammer, every problem starts to look like a thumb.
  73. Re: LOL - missed (point|boat) by ArmoredDragon · · Score: 2

    Didn't anyone alert their marketing department that it doesn't really matter what device you are on.. and that the goodness is whats ON the Internet? A Belchfire 2020 running latest software from Frobnitz company sees the same CNN.com feed. Viewing platform is no longer relevant, as it was.

    That's precisely why Android alone is already seeing WAY WAY more use than Windows is, and it and iOS are killing Windows among regular users. However if somebody buys a PC, then they likely have a specific use case in mind that is specific to windows.

    In fact I'm of half of a mind to suspect that Android (in the form of Andromeda) will eventually replace Windows for regular desktop users, though I don't have a crystal ball. If that does happen though, then indeed, Linux will dominate the desktop.

  74. Re:Erlang? by goose-incarnated · · Score: 1

    1) From what I now, Erlang doesn't work on Windows as well as on Linux. I'd wager it's related to lower level details, and not something that an implementation of the GNU userspace can fix.

    The last time I looked at kernel call translation, it was not possible to make a fork() replacement for the NT kernel. Maybe this is changed now? In any case, without an efficient implementation of CoW fork() a lot of things that are lightweight in unixes are orders of magnitude heavier in NT. I expect that Erlang uses CoW process creation to keep overhead small enough to compete with shared-memory threads.

    Therefore, I distrust their claim regarding Erlang.

    2) Why did they feel the need to mention Erlang explicitly, is it really that popular in Linux world?

    Not really popular, as far as I can tell. I've done a few Erlang projects (in Telecoms, where it really *is* popular) but I was not impressed.

    --
    I'm a minority race. Save your vitriol for white people.
  75. please, please... by jjohn_h · · Score: 1

    >>> I'd actually prefer it to look like Windows NT/2000/"Classic". That has been, and forever will be, my preferred "working GUI". Right now my Cinnamon setup more or less looks just like it. It's how I make MATE and XFCE look as well. >>>

    Please, please tell the world how you managed to overcome the overlay scrollbars, the fading scrollbars, the persistent notification clouds on the desktop, the non-menu and other Cinnamon amenities. I failed.

  76. I urge MS to FOSS Windows, NTFS, etc. by Qbertino · · Score: 1

    Wow, MS, not so fast. Impressive abition, but first:

    FOSS Windows, NTFS and stuff and start an open system development, then we're talking. Until then it's Linux or the occasional macOS for those of us who've got extra cash and less time to fiddle.

    Glad' we could clear that up.

    --
    We suffer more in our imagination than in reality. - Seneca
  77. constant mandatory reboots? by SkunkPussy · · Score: 1

    Why would anybody put up with such poor technology.

    Linux doesn't force you to reboot, and these days you don't have to reboot at all with kernel splicing.

    On the other hand the instant you step away from your desk, Windows 10 kills your applications and reboots to install upgrades. Why does it do this in 2016?

    --
    SURELY NOT!!!!!
  78. Re:So much hostility by Megane · · Score: 1

    Don't move to the central U.S. The soil there makes basements a bad idea, and even if you do have one of the few places that are geologically stable enough for it, you won't find someone who knows how to make a basement due to lack of demand. (or it will be too expensive because you have to cut into rock)

    --
    #naabhaprzrag, #sverubfr-000, #agi-fcbafberq, negvpyr[pynff*=' negvpyr-ary-'] { qvfcynl: abar !vzcbegnag; }
  79. Re:Kidding Themselves by Ash-Fox · · Score: 1

    It's totally unacceptable to be forced to reboot the computer (for updates or whatever) on its schedule, not yours.

    I had no issues configuring this on Windows 10.

    It's totally unacceptable that you can't choose the updates that are applied

    I totally can choose which updates to apply to!

    I'm sure someone will argue that more expensive versions of Windows allow somewhat improved control over updates

    Nope, you can do this all with registry entries in the worst case scenario.

    And then there's the cost of buying into the Microsoft ecosystem.

    There is also a cost into not buying into Android when developing mobile apps, there is also a cost into not buying into Linux when developing server software. It comes down to, what is more profitable and usable for your purposes at the end of the day.

    Additionally, they're making it harder and harder for small teams or individual developers to access that material legally.

    You're probably right here. But, some how that hasn't stopped a continiously growing abudance of programmers centered around Microsoft technologies searching for work.

    --
    Change is certain; progress is not obligatory.
  80. Re:Why would I do that? by Ash-Fox · · Score: 1

    Remove the registry, create more visibility at kernel and base levels, use syslog for logs, use text files for configuration, create unlimited ttys for ssh access, and I might think about it.....

    Using the system they are talking about in the article...

    --
    Change is certain; progress is not obligatory.
  81. Re:So much hostility by fisted · · Score: 1

    I wasn't planning on moving to U.S. anywhere, but thanks for the heads-up :)

  82. Windows 10? by woboyle · · Score: 1

    I'll go back to Windoze when you pry my Linux systems (including laptop where I am posting this from right now) out of my cold dead hands! I don't knowingly install spyware on my computers...

    --
    Sometimes, real fast is almost as good as real-time.
  83. Do it on a device on which the owner lacks root by tepples · · Score: 1

    > su -

    su: Authentication failure

    1. Re:Do it on a device on which the owner lacks root by donaldm · · Score: 1

      > su -

      su: Authentication failure

      Looks like God did not give you his almighty password.

      --
      There ain't no such thing as proprietary standards only proprietary formats. Standards are by definition open.
  84. Bootstrapping capital to buy tools by tepples · · Score: 1

    Doing serious, professional programming using a Raspberry Pi when you are better served by a i5 with 8G RAM is just... childish.

    On what do you do the programming in order to earn the money to buy the i5 with 8G RAM?

  85. All maximized by tepples · · Score: 1

    How many distinct applications' windows can your phone show simultaneously on said external display?

  86. Cause many developers have to run windows anyways by rhyous · · Score: 1

    This isn't such a bad solution for some developers. It is basically the same thing WINE attempted to do. Run Linux but still run Windows, only in reverse.

    Imagine you work for a company that provides you a Windows machine, and you have to be the one to switch it to Linux all the time. You mostly code on Linux and the business systems run on Linux. However, you constantly have to load up that Windows VM for all the Windows-required functionality your company has. This is real and common. Examples: 1) legacy system only works on Windows. 2) you have a Power Point that looks terrible in open/libre office so you have to open it in actual Power Point. 3) Your VPN solution only works on Windows (according to IT) and you have to hack together a solution on Linux and every time they change a settings, you have to spend hours debugging your VPN cause IT doesn't support VPN from Linux. 4. There are thousands of windows only applications that business run. Some of the main ones are going away but more Windows only business apps are written every day.

    So if you have to run Windows and Linux already, and Windows 10 now has a Linux subsystem, I could see the benefit of using one OS.

    But there are non-technical reasons Linux users won't run Linux.
    1. Religious-like zeal for Linux
    2. Hate, spite, lack of trust, for all things Microsoft (a lot of which has been duly earned)
    3. Privacy concerns, both real and imagined
    4. Security concerns, both real and imagined and/or less targeted
    5. etc...

  87. add malware to your linux environment: goto Win10 by Gunstick · · Score: 1

    Linux is still not on the desktop, so how can we get the tremendous experience of a malware ridden OS?
    Well just use Win10 instead of linux as base OS, and you have it all.
    No need anymore to push linux for the desktop to get the full virus treatment.

    --
    Atari rules... ermm... ruled.
  88. Re:Erlang? by Gunstick · · Score: 1

    why do you think they put a full linux kernel on windows? Because the NT kernel cannot run bash in a good way. So instead of putting a good fork method on the NT kernel they just added the full linux kernel with it's well working fork and other stuff.

    --
    Atari rules... ermm... ruled.