This is kind of weird since much of the tech is shared with WSL. It also makes me question the future of WSL, though that would be insane to deprecate given it has worked miracles for rehabilitating Microsoft‘s image and Windows’ usability.
At this point, Linux is so integral to Microsoft's strategy that if anything, it's more likely that Microsoft would abandon the Windows kernel and rebuild the Windows UI on top of Linux.
(To be clear, that's not going to happen, but it's also no longer at the "hell would freeze over" level of absurdity for Nadella's Microsoft.)
WSL is what makes Windows viable in ML/AI at all. They've made a correct (in hindsight it was genius, actually) decision to expose GPUs in WSL using Windows drivers and a shim in a vm. It works surprisingly well.
That’s why I’m surprised. It’s literally just maintaining a virtual machine image and some emulation, very little upkeep from Windows core. But it does seem like there was an Amazon component to this story.
WSL1, which no one should use right now, may and should be deprecated. However, WSL2 should not go away since it has completely transformed the dev experience for the better.
