I have felt that WSL is misnamed. It should be LSW. But anyway, I would rather have a Windows environment in Linux than the other way around.

Which is interesting because Steam is coming really close to having this for games. The more I learn about Steam working to make Windows games run on Linux the more impressed I get. Steam actually told companies to NOT develop games natively for Linux because those ports tend to be less well maintained. Meanwhile Steam is putting tremendous effort into getting the Windows native games running well in Linux. Now I want to try more of my Steam games in Linux!

Yes, i learned to embrace Steam because of that too. They really try hard to remove the Windows-lockin for PC gaming to save their arse when Microsoft finally goes all-in Apple¹ and starts preventing installation of software from third-party shops or sites.

¹While Apple still does so only on iOS, there should be no doubt, that that is the long-term goal on the desktop too.

I wish WSL, and Docker which uses it, worked alongside Virtualbox. If I turn on Hypervisor, I can't use VT-X with Virtualbox. It really stifles my ability to learn Docker which I think would really boost my productivity.

I need both, especially while trying to transition from one workflow to the other.

@cuddlyogre Docker can run inside a linux vbox without any overhead, as a workaround you can get an Ubuntu VM in virtualbox.

@Oktokolo That doesn’t sound very likely.

Windows is far too detached from its store and it doesn’t look like it will gain enough relevance in the foreseeable future to only permit installation from the store.

macOS, maybe. But steam doesn’t need to fear competition from Apple regarding games.

@Oktokolo Let's be real, I can install software which hasn't been maintained since 1995 on Windows 11 and the most significant problem will likely be a slightly broken UI. On Linux I'm pretty much screwed unless the software or at least its dependencies are available through the package manager, because if they're not I'll have to collect and compile everything myself and there's a good chance some of the serves where those things were hosted are long gone.

Pretty sure Microsoft isn't going to just drop support for third-party installers after spending so much time and money maintaining decades of backwards compatibility.

@hitko They won't _just_ drop it. It is a long and slow process. Not even Apple is there yet.

Steam wants a monopoly.

@cuddlyogre same issue. I'm using virtual box routinely for work and I cannot test the WSL environment because the virtual box becomes unusable then.

@nitnip Steam sortof already has that. Also "want's a monopoly" applies to almost every company ever.

If FL studio and all my games can run in Ubuntu I'm dumping Windows

Steam, doing the work with proton what wine could not fully accomplish. This is due to the economic incentive.
Still a long way to go especially with newest games, but damn it works well!

@Oktokolo You're missing the point: Linux is already there in a way, because it's often nearly impossible to compile / install some software unless its compatible with the dependencies you can get from the official package manager as you likely won't be able to find and compile them yourself. And the main reason it's that way is because it's so much easier to maintain everything if you just don't care about backwards compatibility, which is the opposite of what Microsoft has been focusing on with their products.

@hitko My point was that there will be a time where Apple and Microsoft will try to prevent installation of software not purchased from their shops on the desktop too. Backwards compatibility will likely be a "professional" feature.

And Linux doesn't matter for this discussion as long as there are no signs of movement towards closed markets there. You also can just install an application with its dependencies in its own separated safe space there as you can on Windows. Bundled dependencies are a thing there too. Snap, Flatpak and Appimage also exist. People do sell closed source software for Linux and they did have to find solutions for distributing that shit to users of hundreds of different OSes which just happen to share a common kernel and userspace tools. So yes, that problem has been solved exactly the same way as for Windows: They bundle outdated libs with their outdated software. Only difference is that way more software is bundled with the OS and security fixes are faster.

@Oktokolo

Microsoft is already doing it.

I saw my first retail install of windows in a laptop and they have this thing called "S mode".

While it is active, you can't install anything that doesn't come from Microsoft store.

You can, for now, disable it, but it's obfuscated, and is irreversible.

@CoreFusionX No that is a security feature. That is to prevent you from installing malware by falling for some blinking "you got infected!!1111 Download this FREE tool to clean your computer NOW!" scare ad.

@Oktokolo

Well, I guess a case can be made to call chrome malware, but s mode doesn't let you.

Nor any other so called "classic desktop" apps.

In my company it’s the other way around:
The official store (on managed mac) is disabled but apps downloaded from the browser can be installed using the temporary admin mode.
🤦‍♂️

@CoreFusionX S mode has been tried on Windows 10 for OEM, but it didn't really take off and it got removed from all editions except for home in Windows 11.