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Comment by sieabahlpark | Hacker News Reader

I don't know what this achieves over booting up a VM of an old OS to run your programs.

First and foremost, security. Also convenience - no need to mess around with shared folders, NAT-based VM networking, OS updates, user accounts/passwords etc.

Anyone who is using that old of software through a VM to conduct business is wasting more money maintaining that setup than if they migrated somehow.

I don't believe this is a good business strategy.

It's not just for business, it's also relevant for old games fans - and will become ever more important for those of us who refuse to buy the "new" games that require a whole ssd for space, are plagued with drm and bugs and to top it off are pay2win upon paying 40€+.

But for those games you don't really need to setup the works of a business layout. Just keep your stuff within the VM no need to share folders.

WSL is VM. So it's pretty pointless to run application on Linux VM emulating WinAPI, indeed. But at least you don't need to care about licenses, that might be one reason.

WSL is not a VM. The upcoming WSL2 might be, though.

I'm pretty sure WSL2 is going to use a user mode kernel

IIRC the NT kernel can run multiple kernels-or-something side by side. It could probably be used to co-run Linux kind of like CoLinux does.

IIRC also, MS can use the Windows HyperV infrastructure to run the Linux kernel too, like they do on Xbox One to segregate games "Exclusive" OS from apps "Shared" OS. In that sense it won't be user mode either like user-mode linux is.

My bet is on the latter.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Architecture_of_Windows_NT

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xbox_One_system_software

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cooperative_Linux

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User-mode_Linux

Well I'll be damned, someone knows about CoLinux.

The WSL2 install command is ( https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/wsl/wsl2-install )

    Enable-WindowsOptionalFeature -Online -FeatureName VirtualMachinePlatform

which suggests it's a virtual machine.

WSL2 is already available in the Windows Insiders Fast Ring. It is, indeed, a VM running on top of HyperV.

WSL is not a VM.

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