Ubuntu on Windows

Posted Mar 31, 2016 3:22 UTC (Thu) by jdub (guest, #27)
In reply to: Ubuntu on Windows by dowdle
Parent article: Ubuntu on Windows

This is absolutely 1000% better than Cygwin or MobaXterm. It's an NT subsystem that implements the Linux ABI. It's the Right Way to do it… and we had to wait for Microsoft, because only they can do it this way. (Only one other company has ever built an NT subsystem, and that was because Microsoft goofed up. They didn't mean for it to be doable by anyone else.)

The NT subsystem itself won't be released on the Windows Store. It will ship as a Windows "Feature", which (at least so far) you'll only be able to turn on in Developer Mode.

It's the Ubuntu root filesystem that will be distributed on the Windows Store, and the way all of this is built means other distros ought to be able to release their own flavours. Technically. Whether Microsoft has an exclusive agreement with Canonical is currently unknown.

Ubuntu on Windows

Posted Mar 31, 2016 10:30 UTC (Thu) by tzafrir (subscriber, #11501) [Link]

Any limitations with that store on content under some specific licenses?

Ubuntu on Windows

Posted Mar 31, 2016 15:02 UTC (Thu) by dowdle (subscriber, #659) [Link] (1 responses)

Why is it 1000% better? I think you greatly discount all of the work the Cygwin folks have put into not only porting software but in building packages and maintaining them. I also have to wonder just how much porting effort is/was required. I would imagine that Cygwin provides its own compatibility layer and to assume it is terrible and the new thing is so much superior... is a big assumption. Time will tell.

Ubuntu on Windows

Posted Mar 31, 2016 23:04 UTC (Thu) by jdub (guest, #27) [Link]

I'm not discounting the work of the Cygwin folks when I say that building a Linux ABI compatible NT subsystem (which only Microsoft could do) is a better way to run Linux software on Windows than creating a Win32-based POSIX/GNU compatible build target.