I think their strategy is to be a better competitor to macOS for development use cases.
Devs I know of that use macOS do it for the "Linux without the jank" aspect - essentially as an "it just works" quasi-Linux distro. If Windows could provide the same experience, or at least a very similar one, I do believe a good number of devs 'raised' on Windows would stay. In my lifetime, I've seen more people convert from Windows->macOS due to wanting to do dev work in a "Linux-like" environment than anything else. It makes sense for MS to want to mitigate that bleed-off.
So now i'm installing Windows and Linux, comparing them and the ease of use. I don't want _any_ driver problems, frankly i just want the OS to get out of my way. Historically, Linux has given me such a terrible experience with things like "my BT doesn't work, my sound doesn't work, my monitor doesn't work" that switching away from Mac was viewed as an impossibility.
Now however, i see a way out, and i'm taking it. I've experimented with WSL2 and it's shockingly good so far. I'll likely install PopOS this weekend to see if i experience problems. If i even hint a problem in Linux, i'll likely revert back to Windows.
Mac is losing it's lunch imo. But, i get to build a workhorse of a PC for the same price i would have given Apple - so i'm happy.
Why sell to these demanding power users wanting complex stuff when you can sell to the rich consumer who just wants to dick around on Facebook and play with their iDevices all day :P
WSL gives me access to all my regular devops and developer tools + Linux shell while I don’t have to reboot for gaming and music production.
I switched about 1 year ago. Windows is now again a solid OS choice for developers and I expect lots more developers to make the switch with the recent and upcoming MacOS changes.
It’s just wsl -—set-version <distro> 2.
Just switching this setup verbatim to WSL2 will most likely lead to performance problems on file I/O from WSL to the windows disk (due to the architectural changes from WSL1 to 2). File I/O within WSL became faster, but crossing the boundary is more expensive making tools like git unusable when the code lives on the windows side. I could move the code to the WSL side but then every IntelliJ I/O operation needs to cross the "slow" boundary. Unless I also switch IntelliJ to WSL so it will probably take some experimentation before I arrive at a proper WSL2 setup that satisfies my needs.