Windows Subsystem for Linux

[glauxosdever]

Hi,

If you don't like Windows, don't use it. But that doesn't prove that the operating system is inferior, just that you don't like it.

Did I say it is inferior? I just don't like their policies. Period.

You can rely upon the FSF for all your beliefs if you wish, but I can't gain that level of paranoia.

It's your right to agree, disagree, or disagree so heavily that you call it paranoia. I'm not here to change your views, therefore I'm not going to argue.

(BTW - how have you changed the behaviour of Linux by having access to the source code? I've only done this once in more than twenty years of using Linux.)

Interesting question. Me, personally, haven't. But many others have changed the behaviour, adapted it to their needs, and even contributed their changes back.

Tin-foil hats are available for free.

Also, do you understand the concept of free as in freedom, and not price?


Regards,
glauxosdever

[iansjack]

Also, do you understand the concept of free as in freedom, and not price?

Don't be patronising. I was using Linux, and well understand the concept of freedom that it embraces, before you were born. But fettering yourself to the dictatorship of the FSF, when it comes to the concept of freedom, is no kind of freedom.

[Solar]

My main problem is that you can't do with Windows what you want.

I cannot do with Linux what I want either. I can't use their drivers in my OS without making my sources GPL, for example. I don't care what their reasoning is. I just object strongly to that ÿou can do anything", because it's missing the "as long as you adhere to their rules" part, which makes them no different than Microsoft. Linux wants GPL, Microsoft wants money. Neither is "free as in freedom", and at least Microsoft is being honest about it.... well.... MORE honest.

[zdz]

Windows targets more platforms than any other OS and the variety of configurations can be considered infinite.

In addition to targeting as many desktops and laptops as possible (which is almost every desktop or laptop these days), Linux also targets mobile devices, embedded systems, servers, and supercomputers. Microsoft have been trying to edge into the mobile devices and more recently the embedded systems industries, but Linux has unambiguously been targeting those platforms for far longer.

I'll take this from a PM on the same subject: I was reffering to windows being used in more corrporate environments and by more casual users or people who use it as a gaming platform. I should have made it clear when I wrote it
You have to agree with me that you pretty much don't what to expect from a normal user. The Windows Update my mom receives on her work PC and the Windows Update some gaming journalist with a high-end PC with two graphic cards and what not is the same.
I don't know about mobile, but I doubt it that it is the same kernel that goes on mobile platforms and on desktop platforms.

Oh, and by the way, Windows 10 won't let me add a second user account without trying to link it to a Microsoft account.

That's why I have 3 accounts and only one is linked with a Microsoft account.

My main problem is that you can't do with Windows what you want. The source code is not available, so no one can change the behaviour of Windows, except if someone is a very skilled hacker that knows how to edit hex codes. Windows imposes arbitrary restrictions on users, has backdoors, and every security vulnerability is reported to secret agencies, according to the Free Software Foundation (I repeat that I don't like their badly-written software, I just agree with them that everything of this above is bad).

It is a thing that is sold. For money. As many other things that are sold it comes in different pricing variants, for different targets. Please read: http://www.joelonsoftware.com/articles/ ... ckies.html
I'm not even going to touch on that secret agencies stuff, but I'll say it again: Intel and AMD are able to build backdoors directly in the CPU! SGX is just a way for NSA to hide better.

[Rusky]

I cannot do with Linux what I want either. I can't use their drivers in my OS without making my sources GPL, for example. I don't care what their reasoning is. I just object strongly to that ÿou can do anything", because it's missing the "as long as you adhere to their rules" part, which makes them no different than Microsoft. Linux wants GPL, Microsoft wants money. Neither is "free as in freedom", and at least Microsoft is being honest about it.... well.... MORE honest.

Eh... there's still a pretty big difference here. The GPL goes out of its way to facilitate you actually writing the code you want to write, it just prevents redistribution without the accompanying source. Proprietary software goes further and prevents you even reading the code, let alone modifying it.

So call the GPL non-free all you want, but "their rules" are very different from Microsoft's, in that they're geared toward letting everyone read, modify, and share the code, while proprietary software does the opposite on all three of those points.

[onlyonemac]

There's a tweak listed on the site for getting XP Pro security settings on XP Home.

In other words, officially you can't use ACLs on XP Home Edition but if you hack the operating system (and risk breaking your licence agreement/voiding your warranty/whatever other legal trouble you could get into) then you can use ACLs, a feature that Microsoft specifically only supplied with XP Professional.

[onlyonemac]

You really need to brush up on your Google skills. Another 5-second search: http://stackoverflow.com/questions/3038 ... exe-prompt

I already read that. The question title is "create a new cmd.exe window from within another cmd.exe prompt", when I asked to open a second shell session inside an existing "command prompt" window. Can't you understand the difference?

You mean just typing "cmd"? That's trivial.

When I did that it opened a second window.

[onlyonemac]

How about the Windows XP system that spontaneously started performing filesystem checks and then giving a BSOD almost every time it was booted, after I did ABSOLUTELY NOTHING to cause this (including but not limited to installing/upgrading software/drivers, reconfiguring any hardware/software, leaving the system for long periods of time without booting it, installing updates, or going online and downloading malware)?

Don't blame the software for a hardware problem.

It's clearly not a hardware problem, because I subsequently used Linux every day on that system for about a year with no problems.

[onlyonemac]

The source code is not available, so no one can change the behaviour of Windows, except if someone is a very skilled hacker that knows how to edit hex codes.

Which is illegal.

[onlyonemac]

(BTW - how have you changed the behaviour of Linux by having access to the source code? I've only done this once in more than twenty years of using Linux.)

Interesting question. Me, personally, haven't. But many others have changed the behaviour, adapted it to their needs, and even contributed their changes back.

In my experience there's also less need for one to change the behaviour of Linux, because it behaves better than Windows out-of-the-box (and what it doesn't do right can normally be changed through a configuration file).

[onlyonemac]

I'll take this from a PM on the same subject: I was reffering to windows being used in more corrporate environments and by more casual users or people who use it as a gaming platform. I should have made it clear when I wrote it

That is true, although Linux does also attempt to target business users, casual users, and gamers in addition to technical users. In this regard, it is still considerably further behind Windows than it is in the technical user market although it is catching up (distros such as Ubuntu are becoming ever-increasingly popular with casual users, and Steam's adoption of Linux as a gaming platform has caused a lot of gamers to switch to Linux). The main barrier to seeing Linux in business and casual environments is the incompatibility between Microsoft Office and LibreOffice (let's face it - LibreOffice can't really work with .docx files and this in fact is the reason why my mother still hasn't gone ahead with trying Linux alongside her ageing Windows 7 system).

I'm not even going to touch on that secret agencies stuff, but I'll say it again: Intel and AMD are able to build backdoors directly in the CPU! SGX is just a way for NSA to hide better.

NSAKEY?

[Rusky]

You mean just typing "cmd"? That's trivial.

When I did that it opened a second window.

[Octocontrabass]

It's clearly not a hardware problem, because I subsequently used Linux every day on that system for about a year with no problems.

If you installed Linux replacing Windows, you probably repaired the problem by overwriting the failed sectors on the hard disk. Hard disks will relocate failed sectors to a reserved area when they are overwritten.

If you dual-booted that computer, you weren't even using the failed portion of the hard disk.

[iansjack]

if you hack the operating system (and risk breaking your licence agreement/voiding your warranty/whatever other legal trouble you could get into)

Try not to be quite such a prima donna.

[iansjack]

When I did that it opened a second window.

Again, the fact that you have screwed up your Windows installation is not something I have any control over.