Microsoft seems to aim for deep integration of Linux in Windows per WSL. They even showcased that they are working on Wayland support for WSL, which would enable using Linux GUI applications directly on Windows.
We may soon get at a point where Linux applications feel as native on Windows as native Windows applications (which use quite a variety of toolkits anyway), as the integration deepens.
Now WSL still uses larger distribution images. But very little holds them from supporting thin Linux images with just the necessary dependencies that launches in Windows as any other application.
WSL is more a solution for users that want to have Linux software on Windows. It's not a solution for developers that want to target Windows, which is what I take this thread to be about.
I don't know if it will ever come with a vanilla Windows Home edition install but somehow I doubt that.
Not yet, but I think it is very likely that in the future installing a Linux distribution from the store will automatically install/enable WSL. Micro-distributions with a specific applications are only a small step from there.
I don't see what they have to lose. Windows is still used widely in business. But their lock-in has drastically reduced with the rise of iOS, Android, and web apps. Making Windows more attractive as a platform for developers to deploy applications, even if it is through the WSL subsystem will make Windows as a platform more competitive to these other ecosystems.
I am currently writing scientific software. But we have stopped building Windows versions, since these programs work great with WSL and it is far less effort than building these applications separately with Visual C++.
I write software that's used by human beings in businesses and building for Windows is trivial compared to maintaining additional docs and training material for managing a WSL install on users machines.
I'm currently in a weird spot with the software I distribute because the majority of the users "know enough to be dangerous" but aren't software engineers/IT professionals. We want them running code and using Linux like a pro, but there's a lot of training/documentation overhead just for our *nix builds and the friction to getting that up and running for WSL is daunting.
Luckily MS understands B2B native more than anyone else so I'm hopeful they'll have a solution eventually, but I'm not holding my breath until then.
WSL is more a solution for users that want to have Linux software on Windows. It's not a solution for developers that want to target Windows,
I am not sure what the difference is, when WSL gets deeper and deeper integration with Windows. WSL2 does not use the personality mechanism anymore, but that's just to make it easier to fully support Linux. But once Linux becomes a personality of Windows in the informal sense, targeting Linux means targeting Windows at the same time.
Microsoft seems to aim for deep integration of Linux in Windows per WSL. They even showcased that they are working on Wayland support for WSL, which would enable using Linux GUI applications directly on Windows.
We may soon get at a point where Linux applications feel as native on Windows as native Windows applications (which use quite a variety of toolkits anyway), as the integration deepens.
Now WSL still uses larger distribution images. But very little holds them from supporting thin Linux images with just the necessary dependencies that launches in Windows as any other application.
Using LLVM for ABI compat is a good tip though!