Microsoft's Windows Subsystem for Linux is coming to all Windows 10 users (archive):
You won't have to be a tester to try Windows 10's new, built-in Linux kernel in the near future. Microsoft has confirmed that Windows Subsystem for Linux 2 will be widely available when Windows 10 version 2004 arrives. You'll have to install it manually for a "few months" until an update adds automatic installs and updates, but that's a small price to pay if you want Linux and Windows to coexist in peace and harmony. It'll be easier to set up, at least -- the kernel will now be delivered through Windows Update instead of forcing you to install an entire Windows image.
Embrace, Extend... Excite!
Previously: Windows 10 Will Soon Ship with a Full, Open Source, GPLed Linux Kernel
(Score: 2) by maxwell demon on Sunday March 15 2020, @03:20PM (3 children)
Where exactly (other than support by hardware and software vendors, which isn't an OS issue but a market issue) does Windows beat Linux?
The Tao of math: The numbers you can count are not the real numbers.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday March 15 2020, @04:37PM (1 child)
Not him, but the most commonly mentioned (legitimate) downside vs. Windows is lack of in-kernel API stability.
There's perfectly good reasons [kernel.org] for this, to be sure, but that doesn't mean it's not a downside if you're unwilling or unable to get your driver in the kernel.
(Score: 4, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday March 15 2020, @05:09PM
This is a feature, not a bug. If the driver for your hardware has a proper GPL2 driver that reached the quality threshold to be included in-tree with the Linux kernel, then, whenever a change is made to the kernel that impacts your driver, the folks making that change are responsible to fix your driver to work with the new interface. The original driver author need not be involved, at all.
This works very well. Some shitty companies that are trying to bypass releasing the source for their drivers at all, let alone under a license that respects the freedom of the user, or folks like Microsoft who had to try several times to get their hyperV paravirtualized drivers accepted because the [lack of] code quality will complain.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday March 15 2020, @07:50PM
The most obvious is probably the graphics stack and kernel/driver interfaces for graphics.