As Windows 10 continues to disappoint some users, Microsoft is increasing its focus on Linux. Whether or not the company will ever take the big step of making its own distribution based on the kernel remains to be seen. With that said, the company has sort of come close -- it has allowed Linux to infiltrate its beloved Windows operating system by way of the "Windows Subsystem for Linux" feature. Bill Gates and Steve Ballmer would probably be rolling in their graves right now -- if they weren't alive, of course.
Today, Microsoft takes its commitment to Linux a bit further. You see, it has announced that "Windows Subsystem for Linux" will be shedding its "beta" designation in Windows 10 Fall Creators Update. In fact, the Beta tag has already been removed in Windows 10 Insider Build 16251. In other words, the beta label on the feature has been taken off in a beta version of the operating system. Confused? Welcome to the party, pal!
"We're excited to announce that in Windows 10 Fall Creators Update (FCU) due to ship in fall 2017, Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL) will no longer be a beta feature and will become a fully supported Windows feature. Early adopters on the Windows Insider program will notice that WSL is no longer marked as a beta feature as of Insider build 16251. This will be great news for those who've held-back from employing WSL as a mainline toolset: You'll now be able to leverage WSL as a day-to-day developer toolset, and become ever more productive when building, testing, deploying, and managing your apps and systems on Windows 10," says Richard Turner, Senior Program Manager, Microsoft.
Turner further explains, "What will change is that you will gain the added advantage of being able to file issues on WSL and its Windows tooling via our normal support mechanisms if you want/need to follow a more formal issue resolution process. You can also provide feedback via Windows 10 Feedback Hub app, which delivers feedback directly to the team. We'll still do our best to remain as responsive as ever to the bugs and issues you post to the WSL issues GitHub repo and we'll remain just as engaged, seeking and responding to your questions, etc., on Twitter and will continue monitor and contribute to discussions and answer questions on forums and sites like Stack Overflow, Ask Ubuntu, Reddit and others."
The removal of the beta tag from Windows Subsystem for Linux is largely symbolic, as it should still function exactly as before. With that said, there is a significant impact -- support. Now if a user or company decides to take advantage of the feature, Microsoft can't just wipe its hands and point to it being beta. For that reason alone, hopefully the feature will see some new interest.
Are you more likely to use Windows Subsystem for Linux now that it has exited beta? Please sound off in the comments below.
