Ubuntu is being ported to run on Windows 10 (?)

Yes you read correctly. Ubuntu ported to Windows 10. Astonishing? Unexpected? Or maybe not looking at Microsoft’s past year.

Canonical and Microsoft join forces

Maybe it isn’t that unexpected, but pretty much difficult to believe, given also it has been starting spreading in the April 1st 2016 period. But Ubuntu user space is coming to Windows 10, announced Kevin Gallo at Microsoft Build 2016. What does this mean? The entire Linux kernel is getting ported to Windows? No. Will it work inside a virtual machine? No. Cygwin? No. It will be Ubuntu binaries running natively in a “Windows Subsystem for Linux”. This new system will be available in the Windows Store. But they say a picture is worth a thousand words.

Ubuntu Bash on Windows 10

Here you can see Bash running inside cmd! Pretty astonishing, isn’t it? Other common Unix-like commands will be ported too! Another great feature that will be ported is SSH:

SSH running inside Window Prompt

But the most interesting software you wouldn’t expect to find inside this “Ubuntu for Windows 10” is probably Ubuntu’s package manager: APT.

Ubuntu APT package manager on Windows

Great! Where can I get it?

Ubuntu on Windows is still not ready and it is expected to have many issues. Nonetheless, if you’re impatient and want to try it no matter what, here’s the link.

Conclusion

After .NET open-sourcing, MsSQL on Linux, Visual Studio on Linux, now it’s time for Linux to go on Windows. This project born from joint efforts by Canonical and Microsoft shows how the latter has radically changed plans since the Ballmer era. This move will make developers happy for the most. With Ubuntu for Windows 10 you will have a Unix-like experience on Windows 10 (although there are other ways). Interesting possibilities and many uncertainties; well, we’ll see.

Images thanks to Dustin Kirkland.

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mark

The IT guy with a slight look of boredom in his eyes. Freelancer. Current interests: Kubernetes, Tensorflow, shiny new things.

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