Friday, April 29, 2016

What is Windows 10’s Ubuntu BASH Compatibility Layer?

What is Windows 10’s Ubuntu BASH Compatibility Layer?


Some thought that BASH in Windows 10 is a VM (virtual machine) inside Windows. When it is actually a compatibility layer like WINE (Wine is not an emulator) but running Ubuntu inside Windows. It’s like the other way around. Microsoft worked with Canonical’s engineers to bring this feature as partners. So, stop being a child and grow up! The fight between them is over (and Ubuntu won). :)

How much of Ubuntu are they gonna bring to Windows 10? Actually, they are planning 100% compatibility. So, all apps in Ubuntu should work in the near future, but they are just solving it steadily and should launch maybe sometime next year? (I hope)

Why did they do this? The answer lies in Windows Azure. Windows Azure is a cloud service by Microsoft. Competing with the likes of Google’s Compute Engine and Amazon ECS (Elastic Cloud Service). With Microsoft Azure, you can create Ubuntu instances and use that to provide application, database services on the fly, without any hardcore configuration by using a GUI– I tried it and it just works! Especially with Canonical’s JuJu web interface for cloud management. It’s really easy, and maybe that is why it became so rapidly popular. Microsoft loves this because they don’t have to maintain the code because it’s Canonical’s job anyway, all they need is to provide the infrastructure or the big data centers that powers all of this and of course some technical support. This Azure business jumped to a 150% increase in Microsoft’s year-on-year revenues, and became their core business moving away from Windows as their cash cow. Amazon provides a similar service and that’s also why it’s number one in the market.


Then, the answer is obvious. They wanted for developers to choose Windows 10 as their sole OS without running several VMs in your machine. It’s like one OS to rule them all kind of thing. Look at their IDE like Visual Studio. You can already make apps for Android, iOS, and of course Windows. You don’t have to use myriads of IDEs, jumping from one to another because it’s all here. I guess this is their strategy for people to consider Windows 10 as their main OS for everything. Bringing all of them (developers) back to Windows. I think they are capturing market share and they’re already a monopoly! It may come as worse, but I think it’s better for all of us; we should have a choice.

Wednesday, April 27, 2016

Ubuntu 16.04 Out Now!

Ubuntu 16.04 LTS is here!!!


There has been so many developments in Ubuntu lately. These are the release of an Ubuntu phone, tablet and the new Ubuntu 16.04 LTS version for desktops. I can’t speak anything about the phone or tablet since I don’t have them but the news about convergence of desktops to phones are the main topics. So, what is the story of convergence? It means that using one code base for all of devices. Whether this is a phone or a tablet and even desktops, uses only one Ubuntu ISOs — The desktop OS that we have grown to love is the same also that powers the phone and tablets. Which also mean fewer code base to maintain. And, this is good news for us since Ubuntu became mainstream, for what we have been familiarize for years and loved, is the same across all devices. What we have learned over the years can be applied to other areas inside the Ubuntu ecosystem.

Is Ubuntu 16.04 the version of convergence? The answer is no, not yet. We have to wait for the 18.04 to come out after a year or so (yeah, what a bummer). Everyone thinks this latest version is the converged platform and yet we have to be patient again for the next release and finally have we have been waiting for. So, relax man! :)

This latest release version, 16.04 is not that of a whimper. It’s a more polished version of 14.04 (I guess so from what I’ve read online), and I still have to test it for sure. It’s still looks great, and a familiar desktop we all have used to love! And, it’s still FREE!

Check it out here: http://www.ubuntu.com/desktop.