You can now buy Linux on Microsoft's Store
WLinux is the first commercial version of Linux, more precise the Windows Subssystem for Linux, on the Microsoft Store. It is advertised as a "fast Linux terminal environment for developers and pro-users built on Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL) on Windows 10" and available for $19.99 on the Microsoft Store.
WLinux is not the first Linux-based application for Windows 10; users of the operating system can install Ubuntu, Debian GNU/Linux and other Linux versions for the Windows Subsystem for Linux as well from the Store.
The Windows Subsystem for Linux integrates Linux distributions into the Windows 10 operating system so that these become available. The implementation is fairly limited at this point in time as you are limited to running command line tools and some tools or applications even in the latest version of Windows 10 and Windows Server 2019.
Windows 10 version 1809 includes a new option to run a Linux shell from Explorer. You need to hold down the Shift-key before you right-click on a folder to use the "Open Linux shell here" option.
The installation of Linux on a Windows 10 PC does not provide full access to the desktop environment.
WLinux was optimized to run on the Windows Subsystem for Linux and that is probably the main reason why it is the first commercial Windows Subsystem for Linux application. The distribution uses Debian Gnu/Linux as its core.
The developers of WLinux removed some packages such as systemd from the image in an effort to reduce the overall size of the image and manageability.
The Linux environment for Windows 10 includes the setup tool wlinux-setup to customize environment-specific preferences using it.
It enables users to choose the default text editor, unpack development environments such as NodeJS, Python, Go or Ruby, or manage Windows and Azure deployments using PowerShell and azure-cli.
WLinux includes support for wslu, a tool collection for Linux on Windows 10 that includes five tools currently. The utilities may be used to redirect links to the default Windows web browser, convert Windows paths, or create shortcuts on the Windows desktop.
Support is not exclusive, however, as distributions such as Ubuntu, Debian, or Suse Linux Enterprise Server support it as well.
Other features of interest include:
- Support for graphical Linux applications.
- Apt package functionality to install open source packages from Debian repositories.
- Promise to patch Windows Subsystem for Linux bugs faster than any other Linux distribution available for Windows 10.
The money that is earned from sales flows directly into the project to finance development.
Purchases of WLinux in the Microsoft Store pay for a team of open source indie developers to add new features, test and release builds, evaluate WSL-related CVEs, and provide user support.
Additional information is available on the project's official GitHub page.
Now You: What is your take on the Windows Subsystem for Linux?
Microsoft’s next step with linux ? Winux, replacing Windows 10 with Linux.
It is said that since Windows 8.0 (or even earlier) are built on the Linux core…. I don’t know if this is the truth, but the romours say so. Someone that know the truth ?
That is simply not true.
Blasphemy.
Apparently they want to avoid that people install a real Linux that’s not under full Windows control.
Yep, you hit the nail right on the head.
My feelings exactly, in Microsoft’s ” tunnel vision” way to do business, you cannot have free or freedom…
“buy” linux?
I never understood this thing. Why not just get VMWare Workstation (they give it away for free for personal use last time I checked) and run any Linux distribution you want on any Windows version you want.
I have been doing that for awhile now, works just fine….
Sure, “buy” Linux, and while you’re at it, have your info be recorded and tagged as explained in the article from a few days ago, “Microsoft Store remembers App history for local users…….
Buying Linux is an oxymoron – to be bought by morons?
I like that that its build as a Windows subsystem I also I like that there is support for the Github wslu collection of utilities for WSL. It has more nice features and definitely some potential.
But for right now I have to wright:
Why buy the cow when you can get the milk for free?
Or you could also state: wherefore buy a Trabant 600 when you can get a Rolls-Royce Phantom for free, supplied with your own mechanic and free fuel tank pass?
I thought that Linux system can’t be sold outside the “physical ways” like CD/DVD/Blueray. 😑
“I thought that Linux system can’t be sold outside the “physical ways†like CD/DVD/Blueray”
Linux can be sold without an issue, but you still have to adhere to the terms of the license for it. Also, if you’re selling more than just the kernel, then you have to make sure you adhere to the licenses of all the non-kernel components as well.
None of those licenses preclude selling, but there are other important terms (such as being required to provide the source code) that can vary from license to license.
this is disturbing to say the least. I hope they don’t get their sticky fingers into Debian and kill it like all the other programs they have purchased over the years.
@Joe
Very disturbing indeed.
First GitHub…and now flirting with Linux….
F̶u̶c̶k̶ to heck with M$….yes….the hate is real.
Linux has grown exponentially since the force of Win10 jammed throat-wise…why couldn’t they just say to M$…take your money and go away?
Not sticky – dirty fingers!
They pretend, that they’re trying to make some environment to make the “better world” for users. In fact, all I see, is that they’re trying to get open source community tо bring grist to their mill. Releasing some free software to get the users “drug-addicted” to it. When the time will come all “free” software will become licensed or people will have to pay “small monthly / yearly fee”…
Bying a Linux from Micro$ store – it is real BLASPHEMY!
I’d just like to interject for a moment. What you’re referring to as Linux, is in fact, Windows/GNU/Linux, or as I’ve recently taken to calling it, Windows plus GNU plus Linux.
I truly don’t understand the point. If you want to run both Windows and Linux, the much superior way to do that is to run Linux on the native machine, and Windows in a VM.
If you just want to run some Linux tools, this is a more efficient way.
Such assholes, selling something that should be free, and not giving you a desktop gui, cause you might never use windows again.
Only an idiot would pay microsoft for this.
i don’t know why anyone would buy anything on the Microsoft Store, MS will lose track of your purchases and the Store is krap compared to Apple or Android. they should just stick with server products and leave the rest alone.
The advantage of Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL) is that the source code can be compiled from Visual Studio on Windows. Two Visual Studio solutions can be set up, one for Windows and another for Linux. Then they can both be compiled and debugged on Windows. You don’t have to switch to a virtual system and use a different IDE to compile on Linux. This could be an advantage for some developers.
If you just want to run a Linux system there is really no advantage to WSL.
“You don’t have to switch to a virtual system and use a different IDE to compile on Linux”
Why not use the Linux tools to do the building? You can build Windows binaries that way. Then you can use one IDE for all languages and platforms (unless, of course, you’re unwilling to give up Visual Studio.)
The Linux WSL was developed to be used with the WSL package in Visual Studio. But you can use it in other ways if you want. All the Linux tools can be installed with the Linux package manager (apt). Let me know how it works.
@jimp
Yes, I know. That doesn’t actually address my question. Is the attraction just that you can continue to use Visual Studio? If so, then you’re doing it right!
I think MonoDevelop is a good alternative to Visual Studio.
Why not install your favorite linux and donate the money to support your distro…
“You can now buy Linux on Microsoft’s Store”
Hahahahahahaha !!!! Buy it from somewhere they don’t give a F in their customers….. You must be kidding ?
UWP = Ultra Wicked Platform.
I guess people interested in Linux but intimidated by installing whatever flavor might bite at this. It would take a truly awful Windows experience to drive someone to Linux this way,and pay for it, I’d think. They’d also have to be ignoring the MS aspect to this thing, naively assuming it’s not spyware. I won’t buy anything from the MS Store, it’s disabled on all our devices anyway.
Maybe MS will sell 10 copies of this, maybe zero. Oh the silly stuff we see these days.
The article is fake news – the distribution is not by Microsoft. It is by Whitewater Foundry, a group of open source developers optimizing Debian for WSL. Their work is released under the permissive MIT License on GitHub. They are based out of Columbus, Georgia.
Sure, it is the first LInux distro for sale on the Microsoft Store, but it is not Microsoft making it. Who is behind Whitewater Foundry is rather vague, however. The article could have done better by explaining this rather than implying it as being from Microsoft, which it is not.
The article didn’t say it was Microsoft. That was assumed by the people making comments. Assuming it is Microsoft is the reason for a lot of the criticism.
I want to try wlinux before passing judgment. There are free Linux WSL distributions available thru the Microsoft store. But there are problems with running them. They quit working after some of the apt updates and the graphics is really bad (officially they don’t support graphics). The paid wlinux promises fast support and improved graphics. It is currently on sale for $10. If it improves the free versions it may be worth the small fee.
The whole WSL thing is nonsense and running a different OS in a virtual machine makes more sense. For those who just need some ‘bash’ on Windows, Git for Windows is a better choice.