Re: WSL keeps getting better, and it's because Microsoft is finally admitting where developers want to be

On Sun, 5 Jul 2026 19:17:46 -0000 (UTC), Rich wrote:

> 2) a great many "software developers" are using "corporate machines" and
> the "corporate overlords" are still firmly stuck in the "we must have
> windows, and active directory, and msteams, and msoutlook, and msword,
> and msexcel, and ms-the-rest" world and the developers are dropping into
> WSL as that's their only option for a sane software development
> environment on their corporate machine that is otherwise locked down by
> the overseers.

The company I worked for was Windows centric, particularly when the the IT 
guy was a Microsoft alumnus. The newest machines were dropped off with 
fresh a Windows installation. Developers did not get Office or Outlook. We 
used Slack although Teams was preferred.

The machines that had been replaced with the current Dell offerings were 
wiped and given to the developers. We installed whichever Linux distro we 
preferred and provisioned the machines. IT accepted they were on the 
network but didn't want to know much more than that.

The guidelines were simple; if it didn't cost money you could install it. 
That applied to the Windows boxes also. 

WSL could be handy although I preferred to develop on the Linus box unless 
it was something specifically for Windows.