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Ubuntu Is Now Available On the Windows Store (windowscentral.com)

Ubuntu is now available for download on the Windows Store. "Initially spotted by Rafael Rivera and Necrosoft Core on Twitter, Ubuntu on the Windows Store will let you install and run the Ubuntu terminal on Windows next to your other apps," reports Windows Central. From the report: Ubuntu's arrival, and that of SUSE, are part of a recent push by Microsoft to embrace Linux and the open source community more broadly. This began with the arrival of the Windows Subsystem for Linux in 2016, allowing users to use the Bash shell from within Windows. Keep in mind that this is limited to the Fall Creators Update, which isn't set for a public release until later this year. If you're running a PC testing the Fall Creators Update through the Windows Insider Program, however, you should be able to download and try Ubuntu from the Windows Store just fine.

121 comments

  1. Support Open Source by OrangeTide · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Then Microsoft needs to release MinWin.

    --
    “Common sense is not so common.” — Voltaire
    1. Re:Support Open Source by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Offtopic

      I do not need this windows is all I can manage to somehow understand windows is great why ubuctu on windows store why???
      -cremier
      Buy amazon book from my site! There are 10 kinds of people on Slashdot. Which kind are you? https://www.cdreimer.com/slash...

    2. Re: Support Open Source by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      No its a recipe book with one recipe for devilled eggs. But its a really good recipe. Creimer pulls in $50k annually from royalties paid by Martha Stewart.

    3. Re: Support Open Source by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I did better by creating an app with 8 different deviled egg recipes.

    4. Re: Support Open Source by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I got bitcoin. Where are my cock eggs?

    5. Re: Support Open Source by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      LOL. So glad you are using more obscure Creimer posts. Keep it up boys.

  2. Re:Microsoft haters by Tanktalus · · Score: 3, Interesting

    I hate Windows, and don't care for Ubuntu. But if I have to take a job working on Windows, you can bet I'll be looking at this carefully. Stands a good chance of being better than cygwin anyway.

  3. Finally! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Now I can finally have suspend/resume working on linux. And webcam drivers. And hardware drivers in general.

    1. Re:Finally! by stooo · · Score: 1

      I think you should update your 15 Year old distro release.

      --
      aaaaaaa
    2. Re:Finally! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I'm running suspend/resume on Linux without any problem, but this brand spanking new shiny Windows 10 laptop I've got issued at work cannot hibernate its way out of a wet paper bag. I have to reboot it every morning.

  4. whatever by stooo · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Ubuntu in the Windows store ?
    Whatever.
    Get the original.

    --
    aaaaaaa
    1. Re:whatever by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Step 1: Download Ubuntu.
      Step 2: (Install and boot Ubuntu; then) install the VirtualBox package inside of Ubuntu.
      Step 3: (Run VirtualBox and) boot your Windows partition inside VirtualBox.

      Optional: Disable network access to the Windows virtual machine to keep it from phoning home.
      Optional: Post a selfie of yourself running Windows in a VM and giving Microsoft a two-handed middle finger salute.

    2. Re:whatever by unixisc · · Score: 1

      So run Windows in a VM under Ubuntu which is itself a VM under Windows, since the Microsoft Store doesn't replace Windows or even create a separate partition, but just runs Ubuntu in a VM. That too, probably w/o X11 or Mir or Wayland.

    3. Re:whatever by lucm · · Score: 1

      Where is the part where you disable Ubuntu spyware?

      --
      lucm, indeed.
    4. Re:whatever by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      It is the original, minus linux.

    5. Re:whatever by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Hint: The link doesn't point to the Microsoft store.

      Your PC | Ubuntu | VirtualBox | Windows that can't phone home

      not

      Your PC | Windows | Windows VM | Ubuntu with Microsoft telemetry

    6. Re:whatever by stooo · · Score: 1

      >> Step 3: (Run VirtualBox and) boot your Windows partition inside VirtualBox.

      Why ?
      That step is not necessary, just skip it. it's a plain and full waste of time.

      --
      aaaaaaa
    7. Re:whatever by jiriw · · Score: 1

      I don't want to Wine... but I want to run Microsoft Office !!!11one ;)

    8. Re: whatever by Zero__Kelvin · · Score: 1

      Or you could read the post with an actual clue and realize he didn't say anything even close to what you are claiming he said.

      --
      Guns don't kill people; Physics kills people! - John Lithgow as Dick Solomon on Third Rock From The Sun
  5. Re:Microsoft haters by Hognoxious · · Score: 2

    Sure it's not a stack?

    --
    Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
  6. offensive by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    This is like blackface for operating systems

  7. its a trap by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    i got a bad feeling about this......thats no moon ....its bill gates butt in linux space NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

  8. Finally by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    The Year of Linux on the Windows Desktop is upon us!

    1. Re:Finally by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yay! now I run Ubuntu and not feel like I'm missing out on the Windows Malware going around

    2. Re:Finally by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The Year of Linux on the Windows Desktop is upon us!

      Maybe now that new linux thingy will take hold. Microsoft backing it should give it a real boost.

  9. GPL Does Not Work That Way by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Unlike Steve Ballmer, I understand that Linux is not cancer. It does not contaminate everything it touches. If M$ wants to release MinWin as open source, they are welcome to, but they are not obligated.

    However, since M$ is redistributing GPL software, it should lose standing in any patent lawsuit regarding such code.

    1. Re:GPL Does Not Work That Way by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      GPL also doesn't work the way you think it does.

    2. Re:GPL Does Not Work That Way by OrangeTide · · Score: 1

      Choosing to support Open Source is not the same as using a Free Software license. And by "support" I did not mean "legally required to release source", if I did I wouldn't have used the word support. (the press release used the word support)

      There are already OSI approved licenses from Microsoft such as Ms-PL and Ms-RL. With the Ms-RL (Reciprocal License) being like GPL in that it is a Free Software license, but unfortunately incompatible with GPL according to GNU

      --
      “Common sense is not so common.” — Voltaire
  10. Trojan Horse by Fragholio · · Score: 2

    The only reason that a for-profit company would make overtures like this is if they thought that they had something to gain by doing so, using some business strategy that says that this will help them in the long run. They're not doing it for the sake of the open source community,

    --
    412077696e6e657220697320796f7521da
    1. Re:Trojan Horse by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

      The only reason that a for-profit company would make overtures like this is if they thought that they had something to gain by doing so, using some business strategy that says that this will help them in the long run.

      Like providing customers with features that they want? Yes I can certainly see how that would be advantageous.

      They're not doing it for the sake of the open source community

      Oh really? This isn't an act of charity? They are doing this for their customers because their customers want UNIX tools and features alongside the wide-ranging hardware and software support you get in Windows. No that combination isn't for everybody but a lot of people are going to be interested in it, if you aren't then that is ok. If you want an act of charity toward the open source community then look elsewhere.

      How is Ubuntu's move inside Windows a trojan horse? Ubuntu is full of metaphorical trojan warriors ready to take down Windows from the inside?

    2. Re:Trojan Horse by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Insightful

      They're not attacking the Linux community with this. They're trying to put the final nail in OS X's coffin.

      There was a time when OS X was the OS of choice for business developers. It was based on UNIX so it ran the UNIX toolchain, but it also ran the commercial software that IT required. It was either the choice of least resistance (since IT would support it) or the only choice (if IT forbid Linux entirely). This was before Apple went off the deep end and started iOS-ifying it and renamed it "macOS" and back when OS X hardware was actually cost-competitive if not outright superior to Windows hardware. (Yes, there was a time when you simply could not get a Windows PC as nice as a MacBook. Hasn't been true for years now, but it was true once.)

      The one thing "macOS" still has going for it is the UNIX toolchain. If Microsoft can provide all the developer tools under Windows by offering a Linux layer, that last reason to keep using "macOS" goes away and there becomes no reason to bother with "macOS" instead of Windows. That's why they're doing it - to win back all the developers that left for Apple but are now sick and tired of Apple focusing only on the iPhone and ignoring everything else. Or, worse, taking iOS features and dumping them into their desktop OS.

    3. Re:Trojan Horse by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      LOL, just like they wanted to allow UNIX customers to have Windows applications when they licensed Win32 to MainSoft, Bristol and others. Sure and they didn't pull the rug out from under them later. Dream on, it's a trojan horse and customers who use it will eventually pay for that choice in the harshest way.

    4. Re:Trojan Horse by hawkeyeMI · · Score: 1

      This is fairly accurate. I run Linux on the desktop but for an all-around laptop I now prefer Windows 10. I used OS X from about 2001 to 2008. Your evaluation is spot-on. However, MobaXterm is mostly better than the Windows Subsystem for Linux, at the moment. I hope that will change.

      --
      Error 404 - Sig Not Found
    5. Re:Trojan Horse by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      LOL, just like they wanted to allow UNIX customers to have Windows applications when they licensed Win32 to MainSoft, Bristol and others. Sure and they didn't pull the rug out from under them later.

      No this is the opposite of that.

      Dream on, it's a trojan horse and customers who use it will eventually pay for that choice in the harshest way.

      How is it a trojan horse? They are running Ubuntu inside Windows, are you saying Ubuntu is the trojan horse? If so what does that mean?

    6. Re:Trojan Horse by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      it is not the Linux kernel so they can make apps work, not work, work strangely etc. And they can pull it all off the table.

      Run the real think in a virtual machine and protect your investment and own your environment.

    7. Re:Trojan Horse by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      it is not the Linux kernel so they can make apps work, not work, work strangely etc. And they can pull it all off the table.

      Making apps work is a good thing for customers so yes customers would want them to do that. Making apps not work or work strangely or eliminating it completely is a bad thing for customers and if customers' applications suddenly stop working on Windows but still work on Linux then obviously that is something that would be bad for Microsoft and something that they most certainly would not want to do.

    8. Re: Trojan Horse by Zero__Kelvin · · Score: 0

      Once people become entrenched: "We will no longer offer it through any channel but the Windows Store and the latest update disabled the "free" version. You can purchase the proprietary runtime support in the Windows store by just paying a $1200.00 fee."

      --
      Guns don't kill people; Physics kills people! - John Lithgow as Dick Solomon on Third Rock From The Sun
    9. Re:Trojan Horse by Fragholio · · Score: 1

      From reading the other comments, I think I should have been more clear. I was saying that Ubuntu in Windows is one of Microsoft's "Trojan Horses" into the open source community. Given their past record, I am inclined to believe that they see some direct or indirect monetary or positional benefit from doing this, and I have doubts that it serves open source's interests.

      --
      412077696e6e657220697320796f7521da
    10. Re: Trojan Horse by moronoxyd · · Score: 1

      Once people become entrenched: "We will no longer offer it through any channel but the Windows Store and the latest update disabled the "free" version. You can purchase the proprietary runtime support in the Windows store by just paying a $1200.00 fee."

      Except, since the people are already using Linux programs at that point, they can just move to some Linux distribution if Microsoft ever did what you are saying.
      Offering Linux on Windows reduces the dependency on Windows, as it allows users to take steps towards Linux.

    11. Re: Trojan Horse by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Once people become entrenched: "We will no longer offer it through any channel but the Windows Store and the latest update disabled the "free" version. You can purchase the proprietary runtime support in the Windows store by just paying a $1200.00 fee."

      Or just run Linux either natively or a VM. Not sure whether you are genuinely ignorant of the obvious workaround (the methods that anybody who wants to run Linux programs already does) or whether you're just pretending to be for some reason.

    12. Re: Trojan Horse by Zero__Kelvin · · Score: 1

      You are the ignorant one. People who know to do that, do that already. As always, Microsoft's target market is the ignorant.

      --
      Guns don't kill people; Physics kills people! - John Lithgow as Dick Solomon on Third Rock From The Sun
    13. Re: Trojan Horse by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You are the ignorant one. People who know to do that, do that already. As always, Microsoft's target market is the ignorant.

      So what you are saying is that I (who just explained to you some ways to run Linux applications) am the target market for this WSL thing and would then pay them $1200 for the privilege of using it despite the alternatives which I just listed?

      But what you *actually believe* is that Microsoft is going to change this to a paid-only option and people running Linux applications on Windows will not run Linux in a VM or run it natively or spend a few hundred dollars on a Linux system from Dell or HP but will instead pay $1200 for this Ubuntu on Windows app? Just to be clear, this really what you genuinely believe would happen?

    14. Re: Trojan Horse by Zero__Kelvin · · Score: 1

      First of all, you didn't explain shit to me. I promise you I know far more than you. Second, one of the things I know that you clearly don't is that businesses that have an infrastructure in place will determine that $1200 to keep the system as is makes sense, because it will cost more than that to train people, modify processes, and get Linux admins in their Winblows only shop. You truly are clueless.

      --
      Guns don't kill people; Physics kills people! - John Lithgow as Dick Solomon on Third Rock From The Sun
    15. Re: Trojan Horse by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You obviously work in defective organizations if $1200 per user is more cost effective than running Linux in a VM. If you're prepared to swallow whatever Microsoft rubs out and pay them for the privilege then that's your perogative, you're already arguing with me about how you're going to do it so get on your knees Microsoft bitch! I promise you will be Microsoft's bitch forever with your pathetic capitulating attitude.

    16. Re: Trojan Horse by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I'm not the poster to who you were replying.

      You are dead wrong - many orgnizations have a blanket ban on VMs on user desktops due to security concerns (whether valid or not).

      $1200 is a drop in the ocean, that pays for a day's training.

    17. Re: Trojan Horse by Zero__Kelvin · · Score: 1

      We get it. You have no real world business experience, and can't wait to graduate from High School so you can move out of mom's basement, go to college, and wish you too could get laid. Off you go now little boy...

      --
      Guns don't kill people; Physics kills people! - John Lithgow as Dick Solomon on Third Rock From The Sun
  11. Good to have Windows... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    I prefer Linux but don't want it to be the only OS out there. I'm glad there's Windows, OS X, FreeBSD, etc. out there. What would be ideal is more or less equal market share for all of them.

  12. Embrace. by Dishevel · · Score: 0, Flamebait

    Extend.
    Extinguish.

    --
    Why is it so hard to only have politicians for a few years, then have them go away?
    1. Re: Embrace. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      That is exactly what systemd will do to your Windows PC if you install this.

    2. Re: Embrace. by Dishevel · · Score: 0, Offtopic

      I fucking hate systemd.

      --
      Why is it so hard to only have politicians for a few years, then have them go away?
    3. Re:Embrace. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Extinguish what? And how exactly would that be accomplished? If putting Ubuntu userland in Windows with a Linux kernel abstraction is enough to extinguish Ubuntu then it clearly offers nothing of value to users and deserves to die.

    4. Re:Embrace. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Embrace the GNU/Linux userland on Windows, Extend it such that a significant amount of Linux programs run on Windows and people begin using Linux programs, then Extinguish the GNU/Linux userland on Windows and all the people who have switched to Linux programs can no longer run them on Windows and so switch their OS to Linux. Sounds like a win for Linux.

    5. Re:Embrace. by theCoder · · Score: 1

      Change the SecureBoot requirements so that it cannot be disabled on consumer computers. Revoke the SecureBoot certificate that allows (some) Linux distributions to boot with it enabled. Linux effectively extinguished in the consumer space. And Microsoft will say that's OK because now you can run your Linux programs under the gentle oversight of Windows, and whatever marketing data it is collecting.

      --
      "Save the whales, feed the hungry, free the mallocs" -- author unknown
    6. Re:Embrace. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      If that were a possibility they would have already done it and just said you can run Linux in a VM. In any case major vendors like Dell, HP and Lenovo offer more systems today than ever before with Linux pre-installed so the SecureBoot requirements (or whatever you make them up to be) are irrelevant.

      And Microsoft will say that's OK because now you can run your Linux programs under the gentle oversight of Windows, and whatever marketing data it is collecting.

      Not only is that a long way from actually being true but if you think it is true for your use case then you can capitulate but WSL != Linux and the former is not a substitute in a great many cases nor would many GNU/Linux users be convinced that it is. So as above, if that really were their plan then the VM route would be much more capable and would actually support the assertion that you say they would make much more comprehensively than WSL.

  13. Re:Microsoft haters by sexconker · · Score: 1

    Where shall we queue, sir?

  14. Re:Microsoft haters by sexconker · · Score: 3, Funny

    Stands a good chance of being better than cygwin anyway.

    A spontaneous bout of diarrhea stands a good chance of being better than cygwin.

  15. Poor Ubuntu!!! by Heebie · · Score: 1

    It's going to get infected with all kinds of virii and bugs!

  16. Re:Microsoft haters by MightyMartian · · Score: 2

    One of my proudest achievements was managing to get OpenRADIUS compiled under Cygwin (this was around 2003 or 2004), but what it did teach me is that while Cygwin was at the time the best available solution for running *nix software on Windows, it still sucked horribly. I installed Cygwin again a few years back and found that while some things had been cleaned up, all in all it was still a bloody awful kludge.

    --
    The world's burning. Moped Jesus spotted on I50. Details at 11.
  17. Re:Microsoft haters by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    MS's support of Open Source is going to drive all the Linux fan boys into a tizzy. MS has figured out how to merge open source products with their traditional proprietary software products without violating the GPL or other types of licenses. They have open sourced and released .NET Core which is cross platform. The current Windows .NET developers can now use a familiar IDE such as Visual Studio to create cross platform applications. MS is working on an open source cross platform SQL Server product as well. All these initiatives are aimed at narrowing the gap between the MS only ecosystem and the open source ecosystem. In the good ole days MS had to pay a lot of money acquiring technologies developed by others and integrating the technologies into their products. Now as long as they adhere to the licenses attached to open source technologies they don't have to pay a dime.

  18. HERESY! by sciengin · · Score: 1

    Purify this store!

    1. Re:HERESY! by stooo · · Score: 1

      Yeah. Rename it "Ubuntu Store"

      --
      aaaaaaa
  19. no change by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    They havent changed, if you recall Balmer said he would be happy if all open source happened on top of windows. Now it looks like they are trying to make that happen. So no change at all for the crap company that has crap software and is totally crap. I will never use winblows ever again ever. Nutella can go to hell.

    1. Re:no change by amalcolm · · Score: 1

      Time to back on your meds

      --
      Time for bed, said Zebedee - boing
  20. Hell is Freezing Over by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

    The Cubs have won a World Series, Donald Trump is President of the United States of America and Microsoft is embracing Linux. The end is near......

  21. Expected year of the desktop first by Subm · · Score: 4, Funny

    I always expected to see the year of GNU/Linux on the desktop before seeing the year of it on Microsoft, but I'll take it.

    Next, I'd love to see Richard Stallman having dinner with Bill Gates. I believe I have a vivid imagination, but I can't imagine how that dinner would go.

  22. The annexation and subversion of Linux by Rick+Schumann · · Score: 4, Insightful
    It's slowly happening, like I feared it would, and none of you believed me.

    Why install messy and complicated 'linux' when you can get the look and feel within your nice, safe, compatible Windows computer? Silly Linux!

    None of the power of Linux and none of the respect for your privacy. Sandboxing Linux under Windows instead of the other way around like it should be. Screw that.

    1. Re:The annexation and subversion of Linux by yodleboy · · Score: 1

      I KNOW RIGHT??!! MS is literally forcing people to use Windows, because that will soon be the only way to run any Linux distro.


      Also, the sky is falling.

    2. Re:The annexation and subversion of Linux by stooo · · Score: 2

      >> The annexation and subversion of Linux ...
      Nope, Linux source is versionned on GIT, not Subversion

      --
      aaaaaaa
    3. Re:The annexation and subversion of Linux by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      "We're not being anticompetitive by 100% locking down the bootloader and not giving away the keys, look, you can run your choice of Linux once you've booted Windows!"

    4. Re:The annexation and subversion of Linux by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Fucking naive, blind moron. Enjoy your gas chamber.

    5. Re:The annexation and subversion of Linux by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I hear Windows source is now versioned under Git too.

  23. Re:Microsoft haters by OhPlz · · Score: 1

    They're working on other distros:
    https://blogs.msdn.microsoft.c...

    It will even let you run different distros as the same time.

  24. it doesn't use Linux so is it Ubuntu? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Microsoft is attempting to do what WINE has done on GNU/Linux systems which is to catch the system calls of applications and redirect them to their own OS system calls. WINE does it because Windows is not open source so they map system calls and even create intermediate software to try and mimic the quirks of the MS Windows OS. But Linux is open source but still Micorosft decided to map GNU/Linux application calls to the OS into the Windows kernel calls.

    So, because it doesn't use the Linux kernel, is it still Ubuntu? Do you trust Microsoft to do a better job than the Linus and the Linux kernel?

    1. Re:it doesn't use Linux so is it Ubuntu? by Drinking+Bleach · · Score: 1

      Of course it's still Ubuntu. It's just not Linux. It's GNU/kWindows.

  25. YES!! WE WON! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    There is Linux on the Windows store but no Windows in the Linux repos. WE WON !!!

    1. Re:YES!! WE WON! by tepples · · Score: 1

      sudo apt install wine

      Under Debian and its derivatives, this command gets you a reimplemented runtime environment that can run many Windows applications.

    2. Re:YES!! WE WON! by ChunderDownunder · · Score: 1

      That'd be interesting, to be honest - running Win16/32 applications in Wine under WSL that no longer work natively on an x86-64 Windows 10 installation.

  26. What about DOS CMD on Unix?? by aberglas · · Score: 1

    I've been able to run Cygwin for decades. But I prefer to use a real scripting language. The Windows CMD language can do anything for people with grit and determination.

    What the world needs is a good implementation of CMD that runs on Unix.

    1. Re:What about DOS CMD on Unix?? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
    2. Re:What about DOS CMD on Unix?? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      What about PowersHell?

      FTFY

      Name snark aside, PS does have nice features, such as true columnar output (instead of pipe/tab/what-have-you in terminal), descriptive commands, and powerful integration with Windows and Microsoft products.

      The bad parts include an extremely slow to launch terminal (sometimes upwards of 8 seconds from launch to working prompt) and some of those descriptive commands or switches can be extremely verbose,

  27. Ubuntu or bash? by unixisc · · Score: 1

    What exactly does this mean? That if I download Ubuntu, I'll have Unity or whatever DE I want, and can download the Steam player and play Steam games on it? Or does it just mean that I can now run a bash shell? I thought that I could do that from PowerShell by just typing 'bash' at the command prompt. So if it's the latter, in what way is it different?

    1. Re:Ubuntu or bash? by squiggleslash · · Score: 3, Informative

      Ubuntu comes in many flavors. What's available on Windows is something similar to Ubuntu Server, a bare bones system where opening a new window gives you another terminal session with a specified user. You can apt-get anything you want, though anything requiring a GUI will need an X server, and you won't be able to run X.org.

      Be aware you're not getting Linux (the kernel) with this system - everything is running over a compatibility layer over Windows. Almost everything works anyway. The advantage is that it's tightly integrated with Windows in much the same way as Cygwin is. Unlike Cygwin, the Ubuntu environment runs in a file system very similar in functionality to ext2/3/4 (so, no "ls.exe" needed.) The actual Windows file system is at /mnt/c so you can process files on the Windows side too.

      I like it more than Cygwin - the availability of apt-get alone to install packages is a major improvement.

      --
      You are not alone. This is not normal. None of this is normal.
    2. Re:Ubuntu or bash? by sr180 · · Score: 1

      No, its basically just bash and command line utils. Theres still quite a few features that dont work right. Hell, ping would only work for a current administrator up until a couple of months ago.

      --
      In Soviet Russia the insensitive clod is YOU!
    3. Re:Ubuntu or bash? by tlhIngan · · Score: 1

      What exactly does this mean? That if I download Ubuntu, I'll have Unity or whatever DE I want, and can download the Steam player and play Steam games on it? Or does it just mean that I can now run a bash shell? I thought that I could do that from PowerShell by just typing 'bash' at the command prompt. So if it's the latter, in what way is it different?

      It means Linux subsystem for Windows has gone official. Until now, it's been a beta feature - you had to enable "developer" mode and install the Windows feature to enable it. Then go and type "bash" to go and download and install the userland software (it runs on top of the Windows kernel, so the kernel is enforcing all the security as it should, not a closely-coupled Linux kernel bypassing the Windows kernel).

      Now all you have to do is go to the store and click Install, which would download all the necessary pieces. No more doing the few dozen steps to enable it and download it.

      Personally, I use it instead of Cygwin - it just works with a lot less hacks.

      The only downside right now is it only runs amd64 binaries. i386 binaries DO NOT run. You can install the i386 libraries and it still won't work - the Linux subsystem refuses to run 32-bit binaries. This is a big disadvantage right now... (I've been trying to compile Android under Windows for a while now, and each new version gets you further in the build).

    4. Re:Ubuntu or bash? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      though anything requiring a GUI will need an X server, and you won't be able to run X.org.

      The X.org server has existed for Windows since long before this project.

      Simply download Vcxsrv or Xming.

    5. Re:Ubuntu or bash? by squiggleslash · · Score: 1

      The X.org server has existed for Windows since long before this project.

      Simply download Vcxsrv or Xming.

      Neither of those are X.org. I suspect you're confusing X11 with X.org - the former is the protocol, the latter is a specific implementation. X.org itself is a fork of XFree86.

      But yes, for those wanting an X11 server, those are two options.

      --
      You are not alone. This is not normal. None of this is normal.
    6. Re:Ubuntu or bash? by gwjgwj · · Score: 1

      Last time I tested, valgrind did not work.

    7. Re:Ubuntu or bash? by chrish · · Score: 1

      That's fine, valgrind hasn't worked on Mac OS X (err, sorry "macOS") for two major versions now. Apple doesn't love developers.

      --
      - chrish
    8. Re:Ubuntu or bash? by moronoxyd · · Score: 1

      Hell, ping would only work for a current administrator up until a couple of months ago.

      Let me translate that: 'Ping does work.'

      You know, trying to point out that something is bad by mentioning what didn't use to work in the past is kinda contra-productive. In the end you're only point out things that work right now.

    9. Re:Ubuntu or bash? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      This sucks :(

  28. Accuracy, please by lucm · · Score: 3, Funny

    Stands a good chance of being better than cygwin anyway.

    A spontaneous bout of diarrhea stands a good chance of being better than cygwin.

    You mean: A spontaneous bout of diarrhea in a stalled elevator stands a good chance of being better than cygwin.

    --
    lucm, indeed.
    1. Re: Accuracy, please by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Run only cmd.exe for a month and see how cygwin will feal like heaven.

    2. Re: Accuracy, please by sexconker · · Score: 1

      Why would you do that when powershell is a thing?

  29. Windows Subsystem for Linux is 1 yr. old by CaptainPhoton · · Score: 1

    This is kind of old news, as the WSL has been out since last summer. I spend about equal time in this environment as I do running an Ubuntu VM.

    I am really curious about Linus and RMS's opinion of this environment. I haven't seen it mentioned in interviews yet. RMS might argue it's a GNU-only layer, since there's no actual Linux kernel code running (although it's ABI-compatible).

  30. I thoughtMicrosoft themselves already offered this by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    The Windows virtualization platform already offers a "Linux in a VM" type thing which seems exactly the same as this.

  31. Yeah but does it run WINE? by Gumbercules!! · · Score: 2

    Now I can install Ubuntu under Windows in Parallels on my Mac. If I can get WINE running under that, I can just about go full circle...

    1. Re:Yeah but does it run WINE? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      ALMOST. The Windows port of pulseaudio is not really maintained and not usable. There are a few X servers though. Got PlayOnLinux to run. WINE installed but failed to run.

  32. What a time to be alive... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SA1SxZoFmOU

  33. IT'S A TRAP! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Don't trust Microsoft. Especially after Mr. Nadella said "Just Fucking Trust Us!".

  34. Embrace... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    ...Extend, Extinguish.

  35. Re: Microsoft haters by Zero__Kelvin · · Score: 1

    That is like saying that all the people eat I eating lobster at a 4 star restaurant will be upset because it is now possible to have it served to you at the local dump.

    --
    Guns don't kill people; Physics kills people! - John Lithgow as Dick Solomon on Third Rock From The Sun
  36. Re: Microsoft haters by Zero__Kelvin · · Score: 1, Insightful

    It doesn't let you run ANY distros... It lets you run a Bash shell. ... which reminds me, there is no "Ubuntu shell". This is just another way to pollute open source, this time by creating a horde of people who think they are using "Ubuntu on Windows", when they are doing no such thing.

    --
    Guns don't kill people; Physics kills people! - John Lithgow as Dick Solomon on Third Rock From The Sun
  37. Not Linux by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    This is not Ubuntu GNU/Linux. It's Ubuntu GNU/NT.

    Even though Microsoft calls it "Services for Linux", Linux is just about the only thing that it isn't.

  38. Telemetry/spying now in linux by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Just run it under windows so we can see all!

  39. Better than cygwin by DrYak · · Score: 1

    Stands a good chance of being better than cygwin anyway.

    On some point, it is :

    - Cygwin is an attempt for a user-space-level translation layer that provides nearly full POSIX software compatibility while running atop regular Windows.
    Means it's constricted by whatever the win32 API has to offer.
    e.g.: multi-threading and specially multi-process in windows suck, Cygwin-compiled unix apps will suck on windows.

    - Ubuntu on windows (official name "Windows Service for Linux" - WSL) is using the "multiple-personnallity-disorder" of the Windows kernel.
    Win32 is just *one* of the API that it can expose. (originally, this was done so OS/2 programs can also run natively under the WinNT kernel simply by also exposing their API as an alternative) (later that was used to provide some Unix-ish API).
    Microsoft has re-used a failed project to run Android APPs under windows, so that the Windows kernel can provide a small subset of the same APIs as the Linux kernel to run Linux ELFs natively. That means if there's some in-kernel facility that can help supporting Linux software, they can be leveraged even if they are not exposed as a regular Win32 API.
    e.g.: recent Windows kernels have a concept of very lightweight threads called pico threads that can be used to provide the POSIX-threads to linux applications. Meaning that they have much better performance, than if Cygwin tries to translate to the poor Win32 equivalent.

    On the other hands :
    - Cygwin is about full POSIX compatibility : in theory you should be able to compile any POSIX compilant source and get it to work under Windows.
    (real world example: GIMP) - though you still need the source.
    - Windows Service for Linux is about just exposing a tiny subset of the Linux API, just the bare necessary minimum so you can get a few command-line tools running as-is.
    You can get Apache to run (And that's about one of the few complex software that you can get to run), but not a single API is present to handle graphics so forget about getting GIMP (Unless you use an SSH connection with X forwarding and a Win32 X server).
    Forget about EXT4/BTRFS/XFS/etc. filesystems (no direct block device access).
    etc.

    Basically :
    - Cygwin is a translator that converts between Win32 and POSIX API (at the source level) - but some concept maps badly between the two.
    - Windows Service for Linux is about teaching the Windows kernel, but it only managed to learn a few key sentences.

    --
    "Sufficiently advanced satire is indistinguishable from reality." - [Tips: 1DrYakQDKCQ6y52z6QbnkxHXAocMZJE61o ]
  40. Re: Microsoft haters by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    It lets you run entire Ubuntu user space. Not sure if X11 runs though. But you can apt-get whatever and build and run CLI-based users pace software.

  41. Windows Service for Linux. by DrYak · · Score: 2

    So run Windows in a VM under Ubuntu which is itself a VM under Windows, since the Microsoft Store doesn't replace Windows or even create a separate partition, but just runs Ubuntu in a VM.

    No. That's not possible, that's not how Windows Service for Linux (WSL) works.
    (And that's why, as other have pointed, the link points to the official Ubuntu website to get a full blown real-deal Ubuntu Linux).

    WSL isn't a virtual machine.
    It a different "personnality" of the Windows Kernal, where it speaks a different API than the usual Win32.
    (the capability dates backs from the earilest WinNT, used to run OS/2 software natively).

    WSL enables the Windows kernel to expose a tiny subset of the APIs exposed by the Linux kernel, so some of ubuntu's ELF executable can run natively. (Mostly a few command-line tools).
    bash.exe is actually just a launcher that start this alternative kernel API.
    The bash you're seeing is the same actual bash executable as on Ubuntu, but running natively directly on the Windows kernel.

    So no, Linux on windows isn't running in a VM, it's windows directly executing the few native linux executable it managed to be compatible with.

    Saddly, only a very tiny subset of the Linux API is supported by WSL (stdin/stdout/stderr streams, multi-theading multi-processing, some high level networking (TCP/IP), a 2 special surpose filesystem drivers, and that's about it).
    None of the various API needed by virtual box are exposed in WSL (no low-level hardware access to kick in the CPU virtualisation (VT-x and co), no graphics access at all, etc.), so you just can start it.
    So you can't run a Windows VM inside an instances of ubuntu running in WSL.
    Apache and SSHD are about the most complex task you can get running (that's the whole reason WSL is marketed for : so a web developper can quickly test some server code directly from windows without even needing to start some VM up)

    Also, you cannot use the same partition inside VirtualBOX if that's also the same partition the top host of your "piles of VM-turtles all the way down" stack.

    You cannot run 2 instances of windows of the same physical media (maybe except if you're running 2 instances of WinPE BootCD of the same CD...)
    It's NOT linux, it's definitely not as flexible (in Linux this has been possible nearly from the beginning. That's part of the reasoning behind the standard Unix tree (/usr/, ...), as long as each instance has its own /var mount. And recent advances in systemd vastly diminish the /var requirements).

    --
    "Sufficiently advanced satire is indistinguishable from reality." - [Tips: 1DrYakQDKCQ6y52z6QbnkxHXAocMZJE61o ]
  42. Makes SSH into Linux boxes a breeze: No more PuTTY by amalcolm · · Score: 1

    From the windows prompt: bash -c "ssh username@ipaddress" - hey presto, you have an ssh session! No more PuTTY

    --
    Time for bed, said Zebedee - boing
  43. Windows on Ubuntu? Winbutu? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Perhaps Microsoft is trying to get people ready for the next version of Windows, which will *Nix based. So many heads would explode...

  44. "to enhance user experience" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Will Windows be collecting all the the data I create while running Ubuntu?

  45. Re: Microsoft haters by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    > This is just another way to pollute open source, this time by creating a horde of people who think they are using "Ubuntu on Windows", when they are doing no such thing.

    Well? I'd bet this will get a number of them to look at and maybe even start using the real thing. Are you such a Linux snob that you think this is NOT a good thing, and you'd rather not see your small elite group grow? Is this what you mean by "polluting open source"? Because I don't see it.

  46. Re:Makes SSH into Linux boxes a breeze: No more Pu by cs96and · · Score: 1

    Except that putty is vastly superior to the windows command prompt.

  47. Re:Microsoft haters by cs96and · · Score: 1

    Stands a good chance of being better than cygwin anyway.

    But yet they've still managed to make it worse than cygwin. My main gripe is that IO is dog slow. Trying to do a "git pull" on a relatively large repo will just hang. I've never left it long enough to find out how long it would actually take.

  48. Re: Microsoft haters by OhPlz · · Score: 2

    X11 stuff works, but it's not "officially" supported.

  49. Re: Microsoft haters by BronsCon · · Score: 2

    If you install an X server in Windows, yes, X11 works.

    --
    APK quotes people (including myself) without context and should not be trusted. Just thought you should know.
  50. Re:Makes SSH into Linux boxes a breeze: No more Pu by amalcolm · · Score: 1

    It's not the windows command prompt - it's a full bash prompt. And once you've ssh'd in, you can't tell the difference.

    --
    Time for bed, said Zebedee - boing