[squarefoot]

Essentially WSL is to Linux what WINE has been for years to Windows: it translates Linux system calls natively to Windows ones so that Linux binaries can be executed on Windows without any recompiling or virtualization. Technically is a great milestone, but there are some risks: suppose one day Microsoft implements a way to use Windows GUI elements or other resources directly from Linux binaries and people starts writing "Linux" software that uses the new capabilities, de facto requiring WSL (ie Windows) to be run, how many Linux users would jump ship? My only fear is that Microsoft could be planning to do just that.

[jamesgeck0]

That seems improbable, although the reverse is happening. When Flatpak support is complete, it'll be possible to have desktop application packages that just work on both Windows and Linux.