Windows 10 Spring Update Improves Linux On WSL With Unix Sockets and More (anandtech.com)

Billly Gates writes: Windows 10 build 1803 has come out this month, but with some problems. AnandTech has a deep-dive with the review examing many new features including the much better support for Linux. WSL (Windows Subsystem for Linux) now has native Curt and Tar from the command prompt as well as a utility to convert Unix to Windows pathnames called WSLpath.exe which is documented here. In addition it was mentioned on Slashdot in the past about OpenSSH being ported natively to Win32 in certain early builds. It now seems the reason was for Linux interoperability with this Spring Update 2. Unix sockets mean you can run Kali Linux on Windows 10 for penetration testing or run an Apache server in the background with full Linux networking support. Deemons now run in the background even with the command prompt closed. [...]

Comments

pointless extensions.

[nimbius]

All this work to be compatible with Linux is only being done because Microsoft is desperately trying to get a ticket on the cloud moneytrain its ignored for nearly a decade. So far bootstrapping things like Kinect, office, and exchange to their cloud offering has boosted its presence in much the same way that paying hosting providers to switch their park-web sites to IIS static pages improved their netcraft numbers.

Curt and Tar from the command prompt

i presume we mean curl but this is moot. Anyone who needed curl or tar "from the command prompt" (as if it came anywhere else?) has their macbook, or their linux system...and they have it for free in the amazon cloud as well as the 40 some other openstack players that exist.

it was mentioned on Slashdot in the past about OpenSSH being ported natively to Win32 in certain early builds.

Embrace extend extinguish only works when theres a product with a bottom line people are willing to choose. "becoming linux" isnt doing anything to Redmond but wasting programmer hours trying to catch a lizard. Larry Ellison learned this fact with MySQL. GPL is an armored license that prohibits the type of early nineties chicanery Microsoft was absolutely legendary for pulling on small companies and startup projects.

Deemons now run in the background even with the command prompt closed.

Daemons,Welcome to 1991. You could also just pick a cloud provider with a competent ecosystem that will natively run any of five or more major linux distributions that your programmers are already familiar with.

and nothing of value was gained

[Revek]

Why would I want this?

Re:and nothing of value was gained

[Bert64]

My work requires that i get various tasks done, how i achieve them doesn't matter so long as they get done. If they are performed more efficiently using Linux then that's where they are performed.
If you're being forced to use tools which make your work inefficient then you should raise it as a problem, or consider moving jobs.

Am I the only one...

[Anonymous Coward]

who sees Microsoft using all of their friendliness towards open source, and Linux in particular, to "soften" the stance of using Linux as a standalone solution in lieu of actually using Linux. In the last few years, Linux has been its own worst enemy. What with systemd, utter balkanization, no "usable" desktop to go mainstream with (save Red Hat using Gnome internally), getting into bed with Azure.

As a former Unix sysadmin who had to move cross country for family reasons, I have been forced into Windows jobs because I have to live in flyover country in a small town, which already has a dearth of remotely decent IT jobs. Windows is slowly killing the independence of Linux and in my mind, at least, no one seems to care. The "cloud" is the death of IT as we know it. Anymore, unless you're a programmer or hardware designer, you are working in and supporting the "cloud". I remember vast data centers teeming with talented people working on FreeBSD/OpenBSD Web servers with PostGreSQL backends. I remember running *nix-based firewalls and proxy servers, running CheckPoint atop Nokia IPSO boxes. I remember running and writing tons of sh and Perl scripts before the advent of stupidity like PHP and Word Press. We are seeing before our eyes, the dumbing down of *nix. I for one sorely miss pure Sun Solaris environments running atop Sun Sparc workstations. I'd happily take an FVWM WM over anything today. What the hell happened? Anymore, consumers buy machines that are only fit for consumption, not creation. We have given away the family silver.

Re:Am I the only one...

[Srin Tuar]

The problem you are facing is more that sysadmin as a career is fading away to be replaced by devops.

Linux is easy enough to admin that linux IT dept were always a fraction of the windows departments.

Now that most linux admin work is scripted/automated, Linux IT jobs are all but non-existent.

Windows IT jobs may last a bit longer, but as you can see, not much.

Or - hear me out ...

[fahrbot-bot]

Unix sockets mean you can run Kali Linux on Windows 10 for penetration testing or run an Apache server in the background with full Linux networking support.

You could just run Linux (and maybe Windows 10 in a VM).

Thank you, Microsoft.

[biggaijin]

This means that I will be able to run Linux as a bag on the side of your wonderful Windows 10 product with two big advantages over a normal Linux installation: I will have the enormous overhead and slow boot time of Windows to deal with daily. And, Windows 10 will continue to spy on my every move and report it to you without telling me. I can hardly wait to get on the bandwagon with this one.