Eric S Raymond is an old acquaintance in the world of hacking and open source. Although he wanted to participate in the development of the Linux kernel and his code was rejected, it should not be forgotten that he is the creator of works such as The Cathedral and the Bazaar. And today it is not news for any of that, but for some statements he has made recently about Windows 10 and Linux.
You will know WSL (Windows Subsystem for Linux), that is, the compatibility layer developed by Microsoft to be able to run Linux software natively on Windows 10 and Windows Server 2019. A project based on Windows Subsystem for Android known as Project Astoria for Windows Mobile. This project has evolved and currently supports even graphic apps ...
Well, Eric S. Raymond basically thinks that there will be some kind of "LSW" or Linux Subsystem Windows. That is, a compatibility layer with which to run native Microsoft Windows software on top of the Linux kernel. Something that is already intended with Wine, but integrated on the kernel itself as WSL.
Eric S. Raymond thinks that it won't be too long for that to happen. Back in 2002 he said that Windows would not be a reliable profit engine for Microsoft once prices fell below $ 350 and now he sees a Linux win as he has posted on his blog:
«Microsoft developers are now installing features in the Linux kernel to improve WSL. And that points to a fascinating technical direction. The thing about games is that they are the most demanding stress test possible for a Windows emulation layer, far more so than business software. We may already be at a point where Proton-like technology is good enough to run Windows business software on Linux. If not, we will be soon. Third-party software vendors stop shipping Windows binaries in favor of ELF binaries with a pure Linux API… and Linux ultimately wins the desktop war, not by displacing Windows, but by taking it over. Maybe this is always how it had to be.»
You know that Eric S. Raymond is sometimes very controversial in his thoughts, so you can be the one to judge whether or not he is right, since some other experts think the opposite, and that is that WSL could take away from Linux ...
Without a doubt, the followers of Linux are happy about this potential compatibility, because software that for labor issues only worked in Windows, could work in our beloved Penguin, without forcing us to have a system installed that, although every fish that goes with the flow has, it does not please open source lovers.