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> Under Nadella, a bait and switch was initiated where the problem (windows legacy) is slowly switched out for Linux. If that is what's happening, then what's

> Under Nadella, a bait and switch was initiated where the problem (windows legacy) is slowly switched out for Linux. If that is what's happening, then what's the endgame? Switching WSL around so that "Windows host + Linux guest" becomes "Linux host + Windows guest", i.e. Windows becomes a Linux distribution running native Windows apps in a VM with seamless integration? I'm somewhat intrigued by the possibility, but I don't see how it could work given the ubiquity of vendor-supplied device drivers targeting Windows kernel API/ABIs.

jillesvangurp 6y ago
A large part of their business is already running on or compatible with Linux. The endgame is that they get your money regardless of what OS you are on. I'd expect the importance of the windows kernel for revenue growth to be increasingly less important over time. Of course they won't drop it outright; at least not right away and it's likely to stay relevant for e.g. pcs/laptops and gaming. As for games and vr content, a lot of game studios already use cross platform sdks and Linux support for games with and without emulation is pretty decent these days. Also, Android and IOS are big targets for games. Most hardware vendors don't target windows exclusively. Some do of course but a lot of hardware works fine on other platforms even if vendors don't actively support that. Anything intended for data centers runs linux primarily. Most laptop vendors have a few linux friendly laptops at least to not lose out on the pro developer market that tends to actually buy their more expensive laptops. Likewise, most graphics card vendors want to support e.g. machine learning and that requires linux driver support. But I get what your saying. My observation is that MS is very friendly lately with Ubuntu. I don't think Mark Shuttleworth is interesting in selling that outright but an MS distribution might be a logical next step given their increased dependency on Linux on the Desktop and in the cloud.

jillesvangurp 6y ago

A large part of their business is already running on or compatible with Linux. The endgame is that they get your money regardless of what OS you are on. I'd expect the importance of the windows kernel for revenue growth to be increasingly less important over time. Of course they won't drop it outright; at least not right away and it's likely to stay relevant for e.g. pcs/laptops and gaming. As for games and vr content, a lot of game studios already use cross platform sdks and Linux support for games with and without emulation is pretty decent these days. Also, Android and IOS are big targets for games. Most hardware vendors don't target windows exclusively. Some do of course but a lot of hardware works fine on other platforms even if vendors don't actively support that. Anything intended for data centers runs linux primarily. Most laptop vendors have a few linux friendly laptops at least to not lose out on the pro developer market that tends to actually buy their more expensive laptops. Likewise, most graphics card vendors want to support e.g. machine learning and that requires linux driver support. But I get what your saying. My observation is that MS is very friendly lately with Ubuntu. I don't think Mark Shuttleworth is interesting in selling that outright but an MS distribution might be a logical next step given their increased dependency on Linux on the Desktop and in the cloud.