I'm a Systems Reliability and DevOps engineer for Netdata Inc. When not working, I enjoy studying linguistics and history, playing video games, and cooking all kinds of international cuisine.
Almost certainly not, because I seriously doubt that MS will ever bow to GLPv2 licensing requirements (which would be necessary for an actual merger).
.NET Core is MS trying to extend their influence (because they've finally realized that Linux actually is a serious platform for things other than tight-embedded usage).
WSL is a bit more complicated to explain, but I suspect it's largely to make life easier for Windows developers who want to develop web apps, as well as probably an attempt to reclaim developers who jumped ship to Linux as a platform of choice. Also, note that WSL is not a new concept by any means. MS has done similar things before (SFU and Internix), and others have too (Cooperative Linux).
Uhm, I don't think that Microsoft would spend time and money to develop a functionality like WSL just to "make life easier". In my opinion, everything is developed with a profit in mind, even if not immediate. So there must be something going on for this choice...
For Linux-oriented developers there is the possibility to use a VM on Windows (and however develop using VSCode).
I'm a Systems Reliability and DevOps engineer for Netdata Inc. When not working, I enjoy studying linguistics and history, playing video games, and cooking all kinds of international cuisine.
Making life easier for their users increases the likelihood that their users will continue to use their operating system, which is profitable for MS. You have to remember that their primary goal is to get as many people using Windows as possible, because that translates to them selling licenses for Windows and makes it easier for them to sell their other products.
And, honestly, other than being forced to use the Windows Store (or PowerShell) to install it in the first place, being forced to use the horrendous console host interface (which is thankfully going away long-term), and having severely limited filesystem performance, it really is better for many developers than a VM.
Almost certainly not, because I seriously doubt that MS will ever bow to GLPv2 licensing requirements (which would be necessary for an actual merger).
.NET Core is MS trying to extend their influence (because they've finally realized that Linux actually is a serious platform for things other than tight-embedded usage).
WSL is a bit more complicated to explain, but I suspect it's largely to make life easier for Windows developers who want to develop web apps, as well as probably an attempt to reclaim developers who jumped ship to Linux as a platform of choice. Also, note that WSL is not a new concept by any means. MS has done similar things before (SFU and Internix), and others have too (Cooperative Linux).
Uhm, I don't think that Microsoft would spend time and money to develop a functionality like WSL just to "make life easier". In my opinion, everything is developed with a profit in mind, even if not immediate. So there must be something going on for this choice...
For Linux-oriented developers there is the possibility to use a VM on Windows (and however develop using VSCode).
Making life easier for their users increases the likelihood that their users will continue to use their operating system, which is profitable for MS. You have to remember that their primary goal is to get as many people using Windows as possible, because that translates to them selling licenses for Windows and makes it easier for them to sell their other products.
And, honestly, other than being forced to use the Windows Store (or PowerShell) to install it in the first place, being forced to use the horrendous console host interface (which is thankfully going away long-term), and having severely limited filesystem performance, it really is better for many developers than a VM.
Well, on this you are totally rigth!