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Ubuntu Microsoft Operating Systems Software Windows

Ubuntu Is Now Available On the Windows Store (windowscentral.com) 121

Posted by BeauHD from the come-and-get-it dept.
Ubuntu is now available for download on the Windows Store. "Initially spotted by Rafael Rivera and Necrosoft Core on Twitter, Ubuntu on the Windows Store will let you install and run the Ubuntu terminal on Windows next to your other apps," reports Windows Central. From the report: Ubuntu's arrival, and that of SUSE, are part of a recent push by Microsoft to embrace Linux and the open source community more broadly. This began with the arrival of the Windows Subsystem for Linux in 2016, allowing users to use the Bash shell from within Windows. Keep in mind that this is limited to the Fall Creators Update, which isn't set for a public release until later this year. If you're running a PC testing the Fall Creators Update through the Windows Insider Program, however, you should be able to download and try Ubuntu from the Windows Store just fine.
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Ubuntu Is Now Available On the Windows Store More

Ubuntu Is Now Available On the Windows Store

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  • Support Open Source (Score:4, Insightful)

    by OrangeTide ( 124937 ) on Monday July 10, 2017 @05:49PM (#54781825) Homepage Journal

    Then Microsoft needs to release MinWin [wikipedia.org].

  • whatever (Score:5, Insightful)

    by stooo ( 2202012 ) on Monday July 10, 2017 @05:59PM (#54781875) Homepage

    Ubuntu in the Windows store ?
    Whatever.
    Get the original.

    • What exactly does this mean? That if I download Ubuntu, I'll have Unity or whatever DE I want, and can download the Steam player and play Steam games on it? Or does it just mean that I can now run a bash shell? I thought that I could do that from PowerShell by just typing 'bash' at the command prompt. So if it's the latter, in what way is it different?

      • Comment removed (Score:4, Informative)

        by account_deleted ( 4530225 ) on Monday July 10, 2017 @08:25PM (#54782703)
        Comment removed based on user account deletion

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by sr180 ( 700526 )

        No, its basically just bash and command line utils. Theres still quite a few features that dont work right. Hell, ping would only work for a current administrator up until a couple of months ago.

        • Re: (Score:1)

          by gwjgwj ( 727408 )
          Last time I tested, valgrind did not work.

          • Re: (Score:2)

            by chrish ( 4714 )

            That's fine, valgrind hasn't worked on Mac OS X (err, sorry "macOS") for two major versions now. Apple doesn't love developers.

        • Hell, ping would only work for a current administrator up until a couple of months ago.

          Let me translate that: 'Ping does work.'

          You know, trying to point out that something is bad by mentioning what didn't use to work in the past is kinda contra-productive. In the end you're only point out things that work right now.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by tlhIngan ( 30335 )

        What exactly does this mean? That if I download Ubuntu, I'll have Unity or whatever DE I want, and can download the Steam player and play Steam games on it? Or does it just mean that I can now run a bash shell? I thought that I could do that from PowerShell by just typing 'bash' at the command prompt. So if it's the latter, in what way is it different?

        It means Linux subsystem for Windows has gone official. Until now, it's been a beta feature - you had to enable "developer" mode and install the Windows feat

    • Re: (Score:1)

      by Anonymous Coward

      It is the original, minus linux.

  • The only reason that a for-profit company would make overtures like this is if they thought that they had something to gain by doing so, using some business strategy that says that this will help them in the long run. They're not doing it for the sake of the open source community,

    • Re: (Score:2, Insightful)

      by Anonymous Coward

      The only reason that a for-profit company would make overtures like this is if they thought that they had something to gain by doing so, using some business strategy that says that this will help them in the long run.

      Like providing customers with features that they want? Yes I can certainly see how that would be advantageous.

      They're not doing it for the sake of the open source community

      Oh really? This isn't an act of charity? They are doing this for their customers because their customers want UNIX tools and features alongside the wide-ranging hardware and software support you get in Windows. No that combination isn't for everybody but a lot of people are going to be interested in it, if you aren't then that is ok. If you want an act of charity toward the open source community the

    • Re:Trojan Horse (Score:4, Insightful)

      by Anonymous Coward on Monday July 10, 2017 @07:09PM (#54782307)

      They're not attacking the Linux community with this. They're trying to put the final nail in OS X's coffin.

      There was a time when OS X was the OS of choice for business developers. It was based on UNIX so it ran the UNIX toolchain, but it also ran the commercial software that IT required. It was either the choice of least resistance (since IT would support it) or the only choice (if IT forbid Linux entirely). This was before Apple went off the deep end and started iOS-ifying it and renamed it "macOS" and back when OS X hardware was actually cost-competitive if not outright superior to Windows hardware. (Yes, there was a time when you simply could not get a Windows PC as nice as a MacBook. Hasn't been true for years now, but it was true once.)

      The one thing "macOS" still has going for it is the UNIX toolchain. If Microsoft can provide all the developer tools under Windows by offering a Linux layer, that last reason to keep using "macOS" goes away and there becomes no reason to bother with "macOS" instead of Windows. That's why they're doing it - to win back all the developers that left for Apple but are now sick and tired of Apple focusing only on the iPhone and ignoring everything else. Or, worse, taking iOS features and dumping them into their desktop OS.

      • This is fairly accurate. I run Linux on the desktop but for an all-around laptop I now prefer Windows 10. I used OS X from about 2001 to 2008. Your evaluation is spot-on. However, MobaXterm is mostly better than the Windows Subsystem for Linux, at the moment. I hope that will change.
    • From reading the other comments, I think I should have been more clear. I was saying that Ubuntu in Windows is one of Microsoft's "Trojan Horses" into the open source community. Given their past record, I am inclined to believe that they see some direct or indirect monetary or positional benefit from doing this, and I have doubts that it serves open source's interests.

  • Good to have Windows... (Score:1)

    by Anonymous Coward

    I prefer Linux but don't want it to be the only OS out there. I'm glad there's Windows, OS X, FreeBSD, etc. out there. What would be ideal is more or less equal market share for all of them.

  • It's going to get infected with all kinds of virii and bugs!

  • Purify this store!

  • Hell is Freezing Over (Score:2, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward

    The Cubs have won a World Series, Donald Trump is President of the United States of America and Microsoft is embracing Linux. The end is near......

  • Expected year of the desktop first (Score:5, Funny)

    by Subm ( 79417 ) on Monday July 10, 2017 @06:48PM (#54782195)

    I always expected to see the year of GNU/Linux on the desktop before seeing the year of it on Microsoft, but I'll take it.

    Next, I'd love to see Richard Stallman having dinner with Bill Gates. I believe I have a vivid imagination, but I can't imagine how that dinner would go.

  • The annexation and subversion of Linux (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Rick Schumann ( 4662797 ) on Monday July 10, 2017 @06:49PM (#54782205) Journal
    It's slowly happening, like I feared it would, and none of you believed me.

    Why install messy and complicated 'linux' when you can get the look and feel within your nice, safe, compatible Windows computer? Silly Linux!

    None of the power of Linux and none of the respect for your privacy. Sandboxing Linux under Windows instead of the other way around like it should be. Screw that.

    • I KNOW RIGHT??!! MS is literally forcing people to use Windows, because that will soon be the only way to run any Linux distro.


      Also, the sky is falling.

    • Re: (Score:3)

      by stooo ( 2202012 )

      >> The annexation and subversion of Linux ...
      Nope, Linux source is versionned on GIT, not Subversion

    • Re: (Score:1)

      by Anonymous Coward

      "We're not being anticompetitive by 100% locking down the bootloader and not giving away the keys, look, you can run your choice of Linux once you've booted Windows!"

  • I've been able to run Cygwin for decades. But I prefer to use a real scripting language. The Windows CMD language can do anything for people with grit and determination.

    What the world needs is a good implementation of CMD that runs on Unix.

  • This is kind of old news, as the WSL has been out since last summer. I spend about equal time in this environment as I do running an Ubuntu VM.

    I am really curious about Linus and RMS's opinion of this environment. I haven't seen it mentioned in interviews yet. RMS might argue it's a GNU-only layer, since there's no actual Linux kernel code running (although it's ABI-compatible).

  • Yeah but does it run WINE? (Score:3)

    by Gumbercules!! ( 1158841 ) on Monday July 10, 2017 @10:48PM (#54783413)
    Now I can install Ubuntu under Windows in Parallels on my Mac. If I can get WINE running under that, I can just about go full circle...

  • Embrace... (Score:1)

    by Anonymous Coward

    ...Extend, Extinguish.

  • From the windows prompt: bash -c "ssh username@ipaddress" - hey presto, you have an ssh session! No more PuTTY

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