Microsoft’s actual purpose for constructing WSL has nothing to do with changing Linux
The Windows Subsystem for Linux 2 (WSL 2) runs an actual Linux kernel inside a light-weight digital machine proper inside your copy of Windows. It’s an superior piece of know-how that allows you to run Linux apps and do Linux issues from inside Windows with no dual-booting or any of that different malarkey.
So, it is simple to consider WSL as a method to make working “actual” Linux pointless for Windows customers. To get entry to the nice bits of Linux, with out having to take care of all the remainder. While that may truly be the efficient end result in some circumstances, that is not the intent and actual objective of this method.
Microsoft instructed us who WSL was for in 2016
A distinct segment resolution for area of interest wants
With Microsoft’s original 2016 announcement, it is clear that WSL is in the beginning a developer software. It comes from the necessity for builders on Windows to have entry to Linux-only open-source instruments. By bringing Ubuntu into Windows and integrating these options, Microsoft made it simpler and extra possible for builders to make use of Windows as a base.
The preliminary iteration of WSL was on no account a alternative for desktop Linux in any respect. It had poor disk I/O efficiency, there was no graphical desktop surroundings or graphical apps, and it wasn’t a part of Windows by default.
Needing Linux software program doesn’t imply wanting—or being allowed—to switch Windows
Sometimes that you must work with what you’ve got received
The viewers for whom WSL was created fell into a singular state of affairs. In many circumstances, they have to make use of Windows, as a result of the group they work for is predicated on Windows and different Microsoft companies. So, in case you’re a developer, or a FOSS contributor who must deploy software program to a Linux server or code repository, WSL can construct a workflow that retains you on one machine.
If you’ve got been issued a ThinkPad that has Windows on it, and an IT division that doesn’t permit you to simply dual-boot or change the OS on that machine as a matter of coverage, WSL is a lifesaver. It enables you to entry all of the Linux software program and instruments you want whereas staying throughout the Microsoft guardrails your group is paying for.
WSL’s options make sense while you have a look at the precise workflow
It’s a key half of a bigger machine
With WSL2, as detailed in Microsoft’s 2019 announcement, Microsoft hit nearly all of these ache factors with the unique implementation of WSL. Slow drive efficiency was an enormous one. It affected compilation occasions severely, which is fairly vital to a developer viewers.
This was a basic architectural change, with an actual Linux kernel and the flexibility to make use of apps like Docker as a consequence. Microsoft’s popular VS Code integrates with WSL fantastically. According to VS Code’s official WSL documentation:
“The Visual Studio Code WSL extension enables you to use the Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL) as your full-time growth surroundings proper from VS Code. You can develop in a Linux-based surroundings, use Linux-specific toolchains and utilities, and run and debug your Linux-based purposes all from the consolation of Windows.”
If you are a dev that is utilizing VS Code already, and also you’re on the Windows platform, it is apparent why you’d need one thing like WSL.
Likewise, integrating Linux and Windows graphical apps into the identical desktop is a big productiveness win, but it surely’s not the identical factor in any respect as having a full Linux desktop.
Making Linux helpful on Windows serves Microsoft’s pursuits
Everybody wins
It’s simple to construct a story in a single’s head that Microsoft and Linux are in an antagonistic relationship. However, do you suppose these servers in Microsoft’s information facilities aren’t at the least partly working Linux? Is Windows freed from open-source elements in the present day? Steve Ballmer as soon as famously referred to as Linux a “most cancers,” however as reported by ZDNET back in 2016, he now “loves it.”
You do not even have to depend on altruism to elucidate Microsoft’s buddy-buddy relationship with Linux and organizations like Canonical. WSL prevents an outflow of builders, who would in any other case transfer on to full Linux. It permits current companies, who pay Microsoft thousands and thousands each month, to stay contained in the Windows bubble whereas nonetheless benefiting from Linux.
In September 2026, Microsoft announced that WSL containers would now be extensively out there:
“WSL is central to our dedication to creating Windows the very best place to construct, run and handle Linux workloads. As AI, cloud-native growth, containers, and open-source ecosystems proceed to converge on Linux, extra builders are selecting to carry out these workloads immediately on Windows gadgets. We’re persevering with our journey in direction of this objective with a brand new characteristic in WSL: WSL containers . . .”
This pushes WSL into an much more seamless fusion of Windows and Linux, letting native Windows apps interface with Linux in ways in which would have been unthinkable earlier than WSL.
Just give it a attempt
Whether you are primarily a Windows or Linux consumer, there is no arguing that WSL and WSL2 are outstanding software program engineering tasks. It’s high quality for individuals to have very completely different takes on it. My colleague Jordan Gloor, a Linux diehard if there ever was one, admits that WSL is good, however not ok to tug him again to Windows. My different colleague, David Deloney, shared the explanations why WSL works for him, although I’d additionally describe him as a Linux diehard.
Whatever your opinion, when you have a Windows pc, it is not onerous to attempt WSL for your self, and simply perhaps you will come to the conclusion that it is the better of each worlds, for the best sort of consumer. While additionally being no risk to Linux itself, by any means.
