Microsoft's WSL will allow us to officially run Linux apps with GUI on Windows 10

At the beginning of this year we talked to you about VcXsrv. It was a software that allowed us to run Linux applications with GUI using the WSL (Windows Subsystem for Linux) from Microsoft. According to what we read in the informative note published a few hours ago, this will not be necessary in the future, since this support will officially reach Windows 10, which sounds great but something important must be taken into account.

WSL is the Linux kernel running inside Windows 10. In other words, it is a virtual machine, and this means that when we launch WSL, we are basically using emulated software as we would in VirtualBox or GNOME Boxes, with the difference that we do not drag an entire graphical environment and currently we have to work without a GUI. We also have to bear in mind that some applications may not work, such as a SimpleScreenRecorder that we use to record the PC screen.

WSL will improve a lot in the coming months

In addition, Microsoft has also promised other improvements:

Enhancements to the Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL) have focused on enabling hardware acceleration, running a Linux GUI application directly, and making Linux applications easier to use on Windows. Here are some details:

• Added support for graphics processing unit (GPU) compute workflows enables Linux tools to take advantage of GPUs to enable hardware acceleration for many development scenarios, such as parallel computing and machine learning. machine learning (ML) and artificial intelligence (AI) models.
• Linux graphical user interface (GUI) application support will allow you to open a WSL instance and run a GUI Linux application directly without the need for a third-party X Server. This will help to run our favorite applications in a Linux environment, such as an integrated development environment (IDE).
• WSL will soon support a simplified installation experience by running the "wsl.exe - install" command, which will make it easier than ever to start using Linux applications on Windows.

Currently, installing WSL is a more complex process, as we explained in our article WSL: How to install and use the Ubuntu subsystem in Windows 10. Once installed and depending on the equipment used, the installation and use of software can be slow processes, but it can be worth it if it does. we can use free and open source applications like many of those available in Linux. Undoubtedly, what Microsoft promises us is interesting and personally I already want to "play" with it on my old support laptop where I decided to leave Windows 10.