Ubuntu is now available on the Windows Store — no, really!
Microsoft announced that it was bringing several popular Linux distributions were coming to the Windows Store, Ubuntu included, back in May, during its annual Build conference.
And today is that day as the Ubuntu Windows Store app listing is now live in the US, the UK and presumably most other places on the globe.
Windows users running the latest Windows 10 Insider Preview build — and regular Windows 10 users from the Autumn — can, in a couple of clicks, download and install Ubuntu as an “app”.
“Ubuntu on Windows allows one to use Ubuntu Terminal and run Ubuntu command line utilities including bash, ssh, git, apt and many more,” reads the store description.
Fedora and OpenSUSE are also headed to the shelves of the Windows Store, as Microsoft has said that the WSL is designed to be distro-agnostic and allow multiple distros to run at the same time.
Remember What This Isn’t As Much as What It Is
Before anyone gets to excited by the novelty of this news take a moment to remember what this is: a developer tool.
While users can now boot up Windows 10 and “install” Ubuntu 16.04 LTS from the Windows Store they aren’t installing a desktop Linux distro. There’s no GUI desktop environment, no display server, and no pre-loaded suite of of X11 apps eady to roll.
Nope, instead what’s on offer here is a command-line environment with all the niceties Ubuntu has to offer. As such this “app” is aimed at developers who want access to the core Ubuntu system and tools but without the hassle of running a proper dual-boot.
Sound like something you want? Head over to the Windows Store page listing below (in any browser) to learn more.
Thanks Sil