Microsoft suddenly wants to tell you how to install Linux – but why?
Microsoft has released its own instructions on how to install Linux on your PC, detailing in a step-by-step guide how to go about choosing a Linux distribution and then install.
In the help articleRedmond suggests four methods to get Linux running on your machine: Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL), bare metal Linux, a local VM, or a cloud VM.
The guide also points to a Microsoft-hosted library of Linux Perspectives Linux Resources. But all this while it continues to try to push its own operating system, Windows 11.
Microsoft wants to help you use Linux
Although both Linux and Windows are separate operating systems, their purposes are fundamentally very different. Due to the open-source nature of Linux, it is much more adaptable and a wide range of distributions have been created to cater to certain types of industries and businesses.
It could be that Microsoft just wants to help you use Linux alongside Windows, rather than getting completely lost on the open source side.
The article also regularly mentions WSL, which itself uses a virtual machine. An opportunity to plug in its own solution could be a move intended to keep Windows users within the ecosystem even if they decide to go astray.
Despite the frequent reminders of Microsoft’s products and services, the article speaks highly of Linux-based operating systems and on numerous occasions features distros not affiliated with Microsoft.
Exactly why the creator of the most popular desktop operating system in the world (it accounts for more than two-thirds of all operating systems, according to sources) Statcounter) wanted to hold users’ hands as it guided them through the installation instructions remains a mystery, and it’s something that has been met with a lot of confusion, but it could be part of a more general shift toward interoperability.
Technology companies around the world are under increasing pressure due to their dominance in various sectors of the market, and with pressure from regulators mounting, it is a wise idea to engage with the competition now.