That is from here, a Microsoft page for a feature programmers can use which is a snappy technical thing, but which I thought was something beyond just the Linux command line, i.e., a working distro.
A companion page indicates the latest WSL makes it an easy single command to install that Linux command line - a fully working version on a Windows machine, with its bash, grep, sudo and other commands, and all. Had I read more carefully I'd have left it alone, but doing the install was a chance to learn. This laptop machine now has WSL and a Ubuntu command line installed. Wowie.
It was a letdown to dedicate time toward installing what was only a command line interface. WSL is great for the M$ coding minions to be able to use it in their daily work, having it rather than not, but a zero improvement for my laptop use.
As a backdrop, an old Intel Celeron 4Gb computer running Win 8.1 had been drafted earlier to be the carrier of a test installation of Ubuntu. Learn where if you break something it's no big loss being the idea. The install steps are online via several websites, and a utility called Rufus is involved, but that's another story.
Once installed, the Ubuntu full distribution looks spiffy, has apps, and it is all with a graphic interface as good as Microsoft's products have, where command line syntax and all are avoidable.
It was a great experiment because Windows 11 is bloating up with copilot stuff and the 8 Gb thing I am typing on this minute has me with my use habits having to constantly check Task Manager memory use numbers, or end up having the thing choke on transferring data to SSD (formerly "disk swapping").
And crashing to a reboot.
No data loss, but bothersome. It is as if M$ deliberately is bloating the OS each monthly update to churn new sales. And Win 10 end-of-service happens this October while this machine runs Win 11, with a more distant drop-dead date.
But still to be abandoned on a drop-dead schedule to churn new sales, before my expected drop-dead date when I croak.
A problem, the old Win 8.1 machine was a proof of concept, but has a slow hard drive that still is problematic even with the better Ubuntu product installed.
The ultimate aim is to before end-of-service of Win 11 to cut this SSD machine I am typing on over to Linux and to never look back.
However, a new HP laptop computer on discount from Costco was not to be passed up, with tariff pricing likely to make it cost far more if I waited, so I ordered it,
It has 16 Gb, i.e., at twice the ram as this one. Costco was sold out on the 32 Gb unit I'd have preferred to buy, but at 16 Gb I can do okay.
And the new unit is an AMD powered Copilot PC+ thing with a chance to keep M$ available and less a headache with more ram; while learning Ubuntu. (The Red Hat free clone, Fedora Linux, was considered, but Ubuntu was chosen - with other distros besides those two having lesser market share and hence less of an online user/help community base than those two Linux flavors.)
Red Hat is now an IBM owned business, CERN and Fermilab have switched ot Alma Linux which is free and tracking RHEL - Red Hat Enterprise Linux which is a supported commercial business version server/workstation, bells, whistles and all.
That cutover of the research labs has a story readers can research.
In any event, severing the M$ cord has been put off via the new purchase, while this computer, once the new one is tested and not returned as having problems, and put to use, where cuttiong this unit over to Linux will be trouble free.
The Linux install for dual boot - Microsoft and Linux both enabled - is more complicated than a total cutover, which is anticipated.
The bottom line - Linux is mature and has a graphical interface for desktop or laptop use where command line mastery can be bypassed. It is available in smaller installs than Windows, so old computers can be resuscitated, and newer ones, once cutover, being free from bloat induced obsolescence.
Linux is a mature alternative - that is the bottom line - for home users who want something to use and not fret over. For enterprise use, support service matters, and you pay accordingly. Linux is usable for free.
And it is an opportunity to learn things, besides how to hate the phone while learning its use. The point of posting this is to encourage at least one or a few readers to think about Linux, and contemplate its use. If nobody cares, the post is finished and published anyway.