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Comment by cdancette | Hacker News Reader

Then use a dual boot with Windows. It's quite simple to set up.

Linux is the best os for programming imo (especially if you develop software for Linux servers), so why not keep both?

Very few cases can't be covered by either WSL or a VM, and having dual-booted for years I can tell you that after a few days you get into the habit of only booting the more convenient OS most of the time. It's twice the maintenance and 5-15 minutes of context switching every time you need to do something else.

I have a window sitting next to my Linux and I use it about twice a year, it's no maintenance at all (less than a VM I would say)

Ah, WSL... which gives you the best of both worlds: unpredictable and unreliable Windows updates combined with whatever grievances you have about Linux applications.

If by 'booting to the most convenient OS' you mean 'booting to the OS which does not usurp your machine for internal housekeeping purposes (plus a little side of snooping here and there 'to enhance your experience') the moment you switch it on that would surely mean booting to some variant of Linux? Windows seems to think it is more important to try to install the 1709 or 1803 update pack for the umpteenth time, try to stuff the 'Windows 10 update assistant' down unwilling users' throats, ignoring all those 'do not update' flags and settings they were told to hack into the registry. Where the OS can suddenly decide that you obviously are not using that FileHistory backup so let's remove it altogether. In other words, the OS which isn't at the whim of a supplier with an agenda different from yours.

I didn't specify which operating systems, which makes it ironic that Windows was not involved at all in that process. I've used WSL, but on my Windows-only desktop that mostly runs games. See, my work machine never ran Windows. Good job going on a rant about it though.

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