>>78041952they will combine Windows and Linux in very near future
Last week Eric S. Raymond argued Microsoft was quietly switching over to a Linux kernel that emulates Windows.
I've long thought that Microsoft was considering migrating the Windows interface to running on the Linux kernel. Why...? [Y]ou can run standard Linux programs now on WSL2 without any trouble.
With WSL2 Microsoft's own Linux kernel is running on a thin version of the Hyper-V hypervisor. That's not all. With the recent Windows 10 Insider Preview build 20211, you can now access Linux file systems, such as ext4, from Windows File Manager and PowerShell. On top of that, Microsoft developers are making it easy to run Linux graphical applications on Windows...
[Raymond] also observed, correctly, that Microsoft no longer depends on Windows for its cash flow but on its Azure cloud offering.
I think he's right. Besides his points, there are others. Microsoft already wants you to replace your existing PC-based software, like Office 2019, with software-as-a-service (SaaS) programs like Office 365. Microsoft also encourages you to move your voice, video, chat, and texting to Microsoft's Azure Communication Services even if you don't use Teams. With SaaS programs, Microsoft doesn't care what operating system you're running. They're still going to get paid whether you run Office 365 on Windows, a Chromebook, or, yes, Linux.
I see two possible paths ahead for Windows. First, there's Linux-based Windows. It simply makes financial sense. Or, the existing Windows desktop being replaced by the Windows Virtual Desktop or other Desktop-as-a-Service (DaaS) offerings....
