More improvements to developer-optimized Windows 11 experience
Forgive me for getting nerdy for a second, but this announcement is lowkey one of my favorites from the entire show. Microsoft is bringing familiar Linux-like command-line utilities to Windows with Coreutils. If you’re a developer who spends a lot of time with Linux, macOS or inside WSL2, these are the everyday command-line tools you already know, script against and rely on, but now built, shipped and maintained by Windows.
This is awesome for anyone (like me) who frequently moves across Linux, macOS, WSL, containers, cloud or local Windows development because it will reduce the friction across those different tools (do I have this utility installed on this device or in this surface), and as a result, those scripts and muscle memory you’ve built up over the years can remain, even when you’re in a Windows dev environment.
For almost a decade, WSL — or the Windows Subsystem for Linux — has been one of the best things to happen to Windows development. And now, Microsoft is introducing WSL containers, which is a built-in way to create, run and interact with Linux containers using a familiar CLI and API. This means that Linux containers will now run directly on Windows out of the box. The new wslc.exe CLI will let developers directly control and build and run containers, while the WSL containers’ API will let native Windows apps run Linux containers for local AI workloads, testing pipelines and Linux-based processing.
For devs, especially if you’re on a powerful machine, that will mean less switching, fewer VMs and staying inside the applications you’re already comfortable with.
And although this is great for individual developers, enterprises will also be able to benefit from WSL containers, through policy-based enablement, image source controls and IT admin visibility. Both updates will be coming soon to preview.
– Christina
