BUILD 2021: WSL now supports GUI apps, Project Reunion and Windows Terminal receive updates, Visual Studio and .NET 6 get new previews

Microsoft has used the first day of its annual BUILD conference to announce a swathe of updates to its Windows development products.

The first announcement is that support for GUI apps when using Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL) is rolling out as of this week.

A preview of the functionality has been available since last month and is designed to allow developers to run their favourite Linux tools, utilities, and apps directly in Windows 10. Last week, Google announced...

26 May 2021 | Development Tools

Chrome OS support for Linux apps will exit beta in a few weeks

Google has announced that Chrome OS support for Linux apps will finally exit beta in a few weeks.

Linux apps have been available on Chrome OS for three years, albeit in beta. Google is now ready to drop the beta label and declare the feature stable.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a8kkzdOfAgU

Chrome OS supports running Chrome, Android, Linux, and even Windows apps (through a partnership between Google and Parallels) – making it one of the most versatile operating...

21 May 2021 | Linux

IBM brings Python data science platform Anaconda to Linux

IBM is bringing the Python data science platform Anaconda to the company’s LinuxONE and IBM Z customers.

Anaconda is the world's most popular Python distribution platform and boasts over 25 million users worldwide. Today’s announcement is the latest part of IBM’s effort to bring popular data science frameworks and libraries to its enterprise platforms.

Barry Baker, VP of Product Management for IBM Z & LinuxONE, wrote in a blog post:

“Data scientists...

18 May 2021 | Artificial Intelligence

Torvalds: Linux 5.13 ‘will be making up’ for smaller release of 5.12

Linux creator Linus Torvalds warns the next version of the kernel will likely be “making up” for the smaller release of 5.12.

“Despite the extra week, this was actually a fairly small release overall,” Torvalds wrote in an announcement. “Judging by linux-next, 5.13 will be making up for it.”

Last month, Torvalds warned 5.12 may need a little longer in the oven than usual due to its then-fifth release candidate having a “bigger than average” size....

26 April 2021 | Linux

Torvalds says Linux kernel 5.12 may ‘need an RC8’ due to latest candidate’s size

Linus Torvalds says Linux kernel 5.12 may need a little longer in the oven due to the latest release candidate (RC) having a “bigger than average” size.

Torvalds made the comment in his latest State of the Kernel report where he announced the fifth release candidate of 5.12.

“I'm not overly worried yet, but let's just say that the trend had better not continue, or I'll start feeling like we will need to make this one of those releases that need an RC8,” Torvalds...

29 March 2021 | Developer

Linus Torvalds wants an M1 Mac… but running Linux, obviously

Linux creator Linus Torvalds wants one of Apple’s first machines using in-house silicon—but running his open-source OS.

In a response to a Q&A in which a user asked Torvalds what he thought of Apple’s new laptop, Torvalds wrote:

“I'd absolutely love to have one, if it just ran Linux.. I have fairly fond memories of the 11" Macbook Air (I think 4,1) that I used about a decade ago (but moved away from because it took Apple too long to fix the screen - and by...

23 November 2020 | iOS

Torvalds hails the removal of a relic from Linux’s early days

Linux creator Linus Torvalds has hailed the removal of defunct addressing function set_fs() in 5.10 which has featured in the kernel since its early days.

In his weekly kernel update, Torvalds said:

“The most interesting - to me - change here is Christoph's setf_fs() removal (it got merged through Al Viro, as you can see in my mergelog below).

It's not a _huge_ change, but it's interesting because the whole model of set_fs() to specify whether a userspace copy...

26 October 2020 | Linux

Windows 10 will soon support Linux GUI apps along with GPU acceleration

Microsoft has announced that full Linux GUI apps will soon be supported in Windows 10 along with GPU acceleration.

During this year’s BUILD, the first to be entirely virtual due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Microsoft pledged to improve its Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL) with full GUI app support and GPU hardware acceleration.

Microsoft had already announced that it would be adding a full Linux kernel to Windows 10 with version two of WSL later this month, but the GUI...

20 May 2020 | Linux

Brad Smith: Microsoft was ‘on the wrong side of history’ with open-source

Microsoft president Brad Smith has admitted the company was "on the wrong side of history" when it comes to open-source software.

Redmond has had a rocky relationship with open-source software, especially Linux. Back in 2001, former Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer famously called Linux “a cancer that attaches itself in an intellectual property sense to everything it touches.”

Microsoft has a very different attitude to open-source today. In fact, the company is now the...

19 May 2020 | Developer