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by SwellJoe 3566 days ago
I was so excited when Linux versions started showing up on Steam. It meant I very rarely needed to reboot into Windows.

But, I've tinkered recently with Windows 10 and WSL, and it's actually really neat. They've done a remarkable job making it work like a real Linux system in a lot of regards; my projects kinda bump up against the limitations of that (as they are administrative tools and perform actions as root and such), and so I can see areas where it's still incomplete, but I'm honestly shocked at how well it all works.
1 comments
shmerl 3566 days ago
What kind scenarios do you find it useful in? I.e. when would you use it instead of native Linux for the same purpose?
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SwellJoe 3566 days ago
Mostly just when I first got my laptop and didn't have Linux on it, yet. Which, I guess is begging the question..."When would you use WSL?" "Well, you know, those times when I used it."

So...the answer is I would never use it over native Linux, except when I happen to be in Windows and need to use Linux. The people who currently run a VM with Linux in it on their Windows machine are an excellent target audience. I would guess people who build cross-platform apps would also be an excellent target audience. In fact, using it for a little while got me thinking about what kinds of apps I might like to make, if I were to work on desktop apps again (it's been a very long time since I've worked on anything that installed on Windows, and even as recently as a year ago, the idea of it probably never crossed my mind).

So, it's good for Microsoft. And, good for people who prefer Windows on the desktop, but also have to deploy on Linux servers or deliver to Linux users. People who use Linux natively, by choice, and are very comfortable doing so probably don't gain anything from using Windows with WSL.

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shmerl 3566 days ago
I just thought about other scenario. Some restricted corporate environment which forbids running Linux natively.
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hatsix 3566 days ago
I'm really excited about WSL:

My laptop: Gets < 2 hours w/ Ubuntu, > 6 hours w/ windows.

My Desktop: Not having to manage dual-booting between Gaming & Hobby-Time programming... Being able to hack on python/node and deploy to my Pi, play a game of Overwatch, then working again.

If power management was something that I didn't have to spend hours to get right, I probably wouldn't be so dreamy-eyed over WSL... But they just finally figured out how to support Video Card Switching (Prime) after 5 years, I'm not holding out for any big improvements.

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shmerl 3566 days ago
> But they just finally figured out how to support Video Card Switching (Prime) after 5 years

Prime exists for a while. I suppose you mean closed Nvidia driver only now starting to support standard features. That's Nvidia's problem, not Linux problem really.

> play a game of Overwatch, then working again.

I get it, though I simply skip games that don't work on Linux. And I'm not interested in supporting a company with dismissive attitude towards Linux gamers either[1].

1. https://www.gamingonlinux.com/articles/president-of-blizzard...

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