Windows 10 is getting Linux files integration in File Explorer | Hacker News Reader

Windows 10 is getting Linux files integration in File Explorer

theverge.com

60 pointsTomte11 comments

Obviously, like everyone, I'm a little concerned about "Embrace, Extend, Extinguish" and I don't really believe that Microsoft are suddenly "the good guys".

But I don't, ultimately, think that this will lead to the demise of Linux. Desktop Linux as a serious competitor for a general-use operating system was already not happening and not really showing any signs of growth beyond a tiny percentage of geeks; if it was going to happen then I think this would be a major barrier to it (why bother abandoning Windows or learning to dual-boot for Linux functionality when you can just use WSL?), but since it wasn't going to happen anyway, another reason it's not happening won't really matter.

(and on the other hand, by providing a less-scary way to get familiar with Linux from inside the operating system you're already used to, it might lower the barrier by an equal amount)

And Windows is resource-heavy and full of enough overhead (not to mention license fees) that it's never going to replace Linux in the server, high-performance, or embedded space, and this certainly won't effect that.

I suppose it may end up leading to fewer devs directly running Linux in the workplace, since the corp can issue them a more corp-comfy Windows machine instead and trust that they'll still be able to get work done, and all the odd troubles of getting Linux to work comfortably on a laptop just sort of vanish if you can just use Windows anyway, which could erase a good chunk of the tiny desktop/laptop marketshare that Linux already has. Or it may not. Who knows!

I've been using linux on my home machine for several years and it's been fantastic. I first installed linux in the mid 90's though so maybe I'm just familiar with it.

I did use Mac OSx and Windows as my primary desktop until maybe 5 years ago.

And since I've been working from home I've found that I don't really have a need for windows except for server stuff. Interestingly enough, I also found that I can ssh into a windows server and use powershell to do basically everything I ever need to.

So now my workflow has flipped. Instead of having a windows desktop that I use to ssh into a linux vm I have a linux desktop that I use 90% of the time and ssh into a windows vm to do the rest.

I even ran into a bug in Evolution's ews (exchange plugin), filed a bug report, and it's already fixed.

I know that systems engineering/admin work is probably more suited to linux that other careers, but when this is all over I think I'll be using linux in my office also.

I believe that Windows will soon 'do an Apple'.

That is, just as Apple has built its proprietary Desktop built on top of a BSD UNIX base, Microsoft is gradually moving towards building its Windows Desktop on top of a Linux base.

That would remove hundreds/thousands of highly paid MSFT developers that currently have to maintain the underlying OS and obtains their function from the thousands of 'unpaid by Microsoft' Linux OS developers.

Are you saying, we'll finally see the year of Linux desktop?

> I believe that Windows will soon 'do an Apple'.

You are comparing apples with oranges, 'MS doing an orange' will be decades slow and will result in a two faced monstrosity that they will probably rename to JANUS or something of sort.

Vox blogspam.

Here's there actual link: https://blogs.windows.com/windowsexperience/2020/04/08/annou...

For those interested, you can already do this in Windows 10 Update 1903 (as long as you have WSL installed of course).

1. Open Linux Terminal

2. Type explorer.exe .

3. Your home directory will open in Windows Explorer.

You can then pin it to your quick items or wherever is most convenient. $WSL is treated as a network drive.

Eagerly awaiting the 20H1 release of Windows 10 for wsl2. Hopefully it will resurrect my interest in relearning rails.

If this preview is only now in the fast ring, I don't hold much hope of general release very soon.

What does this actually mean--'Linux files' isn't a thing, or did MS make such a thing?

Do they mean files on an ext4 filesystem in WSL/WSL2? Will it also be able to mount an ext4 USB drive?

Windows Subsystem for Linux has a separate set of files that constitute the root file system of the Linux VM. These files are not currently accessible through the File Explorer application. The announcement is that they will be (which is rather nice).

I believe you can already access ext4 USB drives, but it's not native. Hopefully this will make it so.

Thanks for the explanation. Seems like some sort of filesystem in a file (like in VirtualBox).

I've always used a symlink to /mnt/c/Users/<username>/src or whatever I'm working on to avoid this issue.

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