Re: Microsoft Open-Sources WSL2

On Tue, 5/20/2025 2:50 AM, Chris wrote:

Lawrence D'Oliveiro <ldo@nz.invalid> wrote:

Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL2) is the hacked-up pile of glue code
that lets a Linux kernel run on a Windows installation. Now Microsoft
is open-sourcing (nearly) all of that.
>
<https://www.theverge.com/news/669286/microsoft-windows-subsystem-for-linux-open-source>
>
So, do you think this is a good sign or a bad one, in terms of the
future of WSL2 and Windows itself? I see that the GitHub repo already
has about 1000 open issues ...

 
In the first instance it is a good thing, however, it may indicate that MS
is going cease/ slow down development and let it become a "community"
project. Probably because it hasn't been able to monetise WSL.
 

The team who did that project are pretty sharp.

And not to be wasted by sitting on their ass.

If there is no one working on Visual Studio right now,
why would there be someone working on WSL2 ? It's all
pretty now, has a command line utility for install and
launch, and has recently incorporated a couple more distro.
There may be a maintenance person, but the people who set up
up and tuned it in only one week, they're in the AI department
now, making "Vibes for Clippy" or something.

They could add hardware acceleration, to the WSLg graphics
stack. But what are the odds of that happening ?

   Paul