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Winbuntu – Blurring the Lines Between Linux and Windows (hackeradam17.com)
19 points by hackeradam17 3638 days ago
2 comments

I feel like it's disingenuous to tack the "Linux" label on this when this particular Windows subsystem isn't using any Linux code (last I checked; maybe Windows is suddenly subject to the GPL and I just haven't noticed yet?). It's really the GNU userland - albeit compiled against Linux's API/ABI (IIRC) - running on Windows using a special compatibility layer, kind of like an inverse Wine (Water?). Since Linux itself isn't involved (again: unless Windows is now subject to the GPL), the more apt title here would be "Blurring the Lines Between GNU and Windows".

I tend to disagree with the hard-and-fast insistence on the use of "GNU/Linux" v. "Linux" (since not every "Linux" is a "GNU/Linux"), but this is one of the few cases where the "GNU" qualifier is undoubtedly warranted.

I find it perfectly logical to call it the "Windows Subsystem for Linux", considering it implements the Linux syscall interface.
Stallman calls it "GNU/kWindows".
Sorry to be such a curmudgeon, but I'm very weary of the "awesome" thing and self-describing your project as such lessens the chance I'm going to look at it. Could I appeal to your finest nature and ask you to change the title? Seriously, just usinig "Blurring the Lines Between Linux and Windows with Winbuntu" would have been perfectly fine (and would comply with the "don't editorialise titles" rules [0]).

0: https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html

Fair enough. To be honest I was lost in terms of titling it and kept bouncing back and forth between different titles :)
Appreciated :)