> WSL is still the best way to run crystal in windows.
WSL is never the best way to do anything, unless the question is "what is the best way to emulate Linux on Windows?". In all other cases, WSL is literally the worst way to do anything.
This specifically installs the Visual C++ Compiler and the Windows headers so that you can get a command prompt with all that in your PATH. It is not a full-fat VS install. The difference is something like 20-30GBs for the full VS install vs 1-2GB for these specific components.
Have you ever installed Visual Studio? I have. Even just the build tools DOWNLOADS 1-2 GB, as other user mentioned, which is still 10 times what you get with other options.
But after the executable binary is compiled then it can run without any dependencies. I think the later is more important for a window program.
I gave the exes to my users and none of them had any problem running it.
For development currently WSL is still the best way to run crystal in windows.