Yes, but without WSL you had to install SUA (Subsystem for Unix Applications) which gave you a shell and all the Unix things you like, so it's really not different (even if the POSIX it gave you was really old and crusty).

I actually liked SUA more than WSL, which I like more than WSL2, since it seems like they keep moving farther and farther away from making Windows actually POSIX compliant and instead just offering a container for your pesky POSIX needs.

Sure, I specifically use these POSIX orientated emulation layers for the process of porting "UNIX" apps. I would consider windows an acceptable replacement for UNIX as long as one isn't working with people who use its native interfaces by default.