Microsoft confirmed that it will soon be possible to run Linux applications on Windows 10.
Microsoft announced that Windows 10 will allow you to run Linux applications with a graphical user interface (GUI). This is, of course, another important step to continue to use the operating system created by Linus Torvalds. The Redmond has been constantly improving the WSL (Windows Subsystem for Linux) over the last few months, but no update was as important as the one they will release this month, as it will add full support for the Linux kernel.
Linux applications come to Windows 10
As a result, interested users will be able to run Linux and Windows applications simultaneously. Although there have already been some suggestions from third parties for achieving the same purpose – X servers – the community has been constantly reporting graphical performance issues. However, Microsoft promises that Windows 10 will not only solve the above-mentioned drawback but also provide hardware acceleration. This could benefit various development scenarios, especially parallel computing, machine learning, and artificial intelligence modeling.
To take advantage of the new features, all you need to do is install an executable file “wsl.exe”, and Windows 10 will do the rest. As mentioned on their website, Microsoft’s goal is to make using Linux applications on Windows 10 a quick and easy process. Note that support for Linux applications with GUI is not yet available. However, a test phase – including hardware acceleration – for members of the Windows Insider program will begin in the coming months.
New Linux-related features
In early April we told you that Windows 10 offers direct access to your Linux files, provided you have installed the Windows subsystem. The access is displayed in the file browser, and you can even navigate to the root directory of the operating system. Unlike graphical applications, direct access is already available, but only in Windows Insider. While it will take several months for everyone else, there are a number of features that seemed impossible until a few years ago.
Brad Smith, president of Microsoft, said the company “was on the wrong side of history when open-source initiatives exploded at the turn of the century. These are certainly meaningful words that illustrate the change in the Redmond giant’s philosophy. “The good news is that if life is long enough, you can learn that you need to change,” he added.
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