I have to work with Win11 for work and just noticed the lil Tux man in Microsofts Explorer. Likely to connect to WSL.

Apparently now Microsoft wants people to keep using Windows in a really interesting way. By simply integrating it within their own OS!

This way, people don’t have to make the super hard and complicated switch to linux, but they get to be lazy, use the preinstalled container and say “See, I use Linux too!”.

While this is generally a good thing for people wanting to do things with the OS, it is also a clear sign that they want to make it feel “unneccessary” to switch to Linux, because you already have it!

WSL alone was already a smart move, but this goes one step further. This is a clever push on their side, increasing the barrier to switch even more, since now there is less of a reason to. They are making it too comfortable too stay within Microsofts walls.

On a different note: Should the general GNU/Linux community do the same? Should we integrate easier access to running Winblows apps on GNU/Linux?
Currently I still find it too much of a hastle to correctly run Winblows applications, almost always relying on Lutris, Steams proton or Bottles to do the work for me.

I think it would be a game changer to have a double click of an EXE file result in immediate automatic wine configuration for easy and direct use of the software, even if it takes a big to setup.

I might just be some fedora using pleb, but I think having quick and easy access to wine would make many people feel much more comfortable with the switch.

Having a similar system to how Winblows does it, with one container for all your .exe programs would likely be a good start (instead of creating a new C drive and whatever for every program, which seems to be what Lutris and Bottles does).

EDIT: Uploaded correct image

  • SturgiesYrFase
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    1 day ago

    Currently I still find it too much of a hastle to correctly run Winblows applications, almost always relying on Lutris, Steams proton or Bottles to do the work for me.

    That’s…uhhh… that’s why they were made? So that your average Joe Schmoe, like myself and you, doesn’t have to muddle through trying to get wine set exactly right so that the windows program functions. It sounds like you’re complaining about the solution to the problem.
    I guess there could be work done to just make it so if you double click on a .exe install file in just boots whatever has the best install preset, or give you a pop up with options for lutris/proton/bottles.

    • Smorty [she/her]@lemmy.blahaj.zoneOP
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      1 day ago

      ok fair u got me there. Lutris really is a solution, but it still feels like some game-specific launcher you gotta run to run normal programs.

      i was mostly complaining about the double click thing.