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> There's also the question of whether or not you believe WSL as a whole is good or bad for Linux. If there are people who would run a Linux desktop for develop

> There's also the question of whether or not you believe WSL as a whole is good or bad for Linux. If there are people who would run a Linux desktop for development who then decide not to because WSL exists, perhaps that's a bad outcome. I think if that really matters you should be against anything in the kernel to make it work well as a VM under Windows or MacOS or BSD, and in VMware or VirtualBox too. From that point of view, Linux in a VM on another host is taking away from Linux running as a desktop on that host. Linux running as a VM on a VMware cluster is taking away from Linux running on those bare metal servers instead of VMware ESXi. I think the more sane way to look at it is that Linux is an application (and its subcategory is that it is an OS) which is meant to run on various hardware and software platforms, the more the better. This strategy has worked very well over that last couple decades. Does allowing WSL mean that some people that would install Linux on their hardware just run Windows instead and use Linux on top? Probably. Does it mean that people that already ran Windows and have never used Linux get exposed to it for the first time and get familiar with it through a few click on their existing Windows computer? That's also probable. Does it really matter in the end? Probably not.

yuribro 6y ago
> I think if that really matters you should be against anything in the kernel to make it work well as a VM under Windows or MacOS or BSD, and in VMware or VirtualBox too. Why? I would guess that a very large share of linux kernels run under a hypervisor in some data center, in a public cloud or some OpenStack cluster. Won't those mostly be the same features?
- TeMPOraL 6y ago
  Because WSL doesn't compete with people who would otherwise run a Linux box, it competes with people who would otherwise shove Ubuntu into a VirtualBox and run it on their Windows box in seamless mode. So the idea that it drives people away from Linux proper is nonsense (BTW., WSL is Linux proper), unless you also believe that installing a Linux in a VM on a proprietary system is also driving people away.
  - yuribro 6y ago
    I agree with you completely. I think that the comment I was replying to thinks otherwise.
    - kbenson 6y ago
      No, I was just a little more abiguous due to a left out word or two than I intended. >>> I think if that really matters you should be against Should be interpreted as (and I meant to write as) >>> I think if that really matters to you you should be against The rest of the comment should have made that obvious though, especially the last two paragraphs.
      - yuribro 6y ago
        Now I get your intention, the original phrasing made me it parse it incorrectly. Happy to know that we also agree then.
  - TheRealDunkirk 6y ago
    > ... shove Ubuntu into a VirtualBox and run it on their Windows box in seamless mode Given that the WSL2 rewrite is essentially this, without even the niceties of a VirtualBox GUI wrapper to control the settings, I keep wondering what all the fuss is about.

yuribro 6y ago

> I think if that really matters you should be against anything in the kernel to make it work well as a VM under Windows or MacOS or BSD, and in VMware or VirtualBox too. Why? I would guess that a very large share of linux kernels run under a hypervisor in some data center, in a public cloud or some OpenStack cluster. Won't those mostly be the same features?

TeMPOraL 6y ago
Because WSL doesn't compete with people who would otherwise run a Linux box, it competes with people who would otherwise shove Ubuntu into a VirtualBox and run it on their Windows box in seamless mode. So the idea that it drives people away from Linux proper is nonsense (BTW., WSL is Linux proper), unless you also believe that installing a Linux in a VM on a proprietary system is also driving people away.
- yuribro 6y ago
  I agree with you completely. I think that the comment I was replying to thinks otherwise.
  - kbenson 6y ago
    No, I was just a little more abiguous due to a left out word or two than I intended. >>> I think if that really matters you should be against Should be interpreted as (and I meant to write as) >>> I think if that really matters to you you should be against The rest of the comment should have made that obvious though, especially the last two paragraphs.
    - yuribro 6y ago
      Now I get your intention, the original phrasing made me it parse it incorrectly. Happy to know that we also agree then.
- TheRealDunkirk 6y ago
  > ... shove Ubuntu into a VirtualBox and run it on their Windows box in seamless mode Given that the WSL2 rewrite is essentially this, without even the niceties of a VirtualBox GUI wrapper to control the settings, I keep wondering what all the fuss is about.