All MS is trying to do is make it easier for developers to develop on Windows for Windows, which it has ample incentive to do both internally and externally.
Eh? Even as a joke, I don't get it.
1. Download Visual Studio 2022 Community Edition
2. Select and install the workloads you need
3. Fire up any boilerplate from the Welcome menu
4. Press the green play button
Sure, it's no `pacman -S base-devel && g++ main.cpp && ./a.out`, but it's not as bad as everyone puts it.
It is a GUI-first operating system, and if you want to write a fast, HiDPI-aware Win32 application today that supports everything from Windows XP to Windows 11 that's < 50 kB, you absolutely can.
> All MS is trying to do [with WSL] is make it easier for developers to develop on Windows for Windows, which it has ample incentive to do both internally and externally.
> if you want to write a fast, HiDPI-aware Win32 application today that supports everything from Windows XP to Windows 11 that's < 50 kB, you absolutely can.
I said "least painful", not impossible. The scenario you describe here would be very painful.
And before that, some people might remember https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virtual_PC#Windows_XP_Mode.
It also tells me that anyone who makes this comment has limited exposure to comparative kernel development. I've always said it, I'll say it now, and I'll say it in the future: the NT kernel is by far the best part of Windows, and it is in many ways superior to the Linux kernel. Furthermore, Windows ships with an absolute metric ton of very nice userspace technologies that either a) don't exist on Linux, or b) are rubbish to use on Linux.
I don't understand why people want everything to converge on the Linux kernel and its userspace. I like open-source as much as everyone else, but 'let's make ALL the things GNU/Linux!' just leads to lack of competition and therefore stagnation and no innovation.
I have a better wish: Microsoft should open-source core Windows technologies, and eventually, the NT kernel itself. Then, it could maintain its official Microsoft® Windows™ distribution with support contracts, while allowing developers to compile and modify WindowsOpen. Something like what it currently does with VS Code.
