I tried WSL a few times but for real world every day development it's just not usable at all. The file mount performance is crippling slow. A Rails app takes 30+ seconds to see changes vs nearly instant on native Linux.

If anyone is interested in running Linux on Windows in a way that's suitable for full time development then check out this screencast / blog post: https://nickjanetakis.com/blog/create-an-awesome-linux-devel...

I've been using this set up for many years.

The pros of the above method are:

- It's free

- It's as fast as native Linux

- It's actually Linux from end to end

- You get independent floating Linux windows (graphical apps work)

- You can still run your Windows apps

- Works flawlessly with dual monitors

- No need to dual boot

- Takes about 15-20 minutes to set up your first time