Azure Linux Desktop (boxofcables.dev)
62 points by haydenbarnes 10 hours ago
embedding-shape 4 hours ago
> It is a general purpose server and container distribution.
My god, it isn't, where are people getting that from? The previous submission (https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48407499) from the very same author got it wrong both times?
Microsoft themselves call it "Purpose-Built for Azure", why cannot the other Microsoft/Windows salesmen also call it that instead of "general purpose server and container distribution"?
hparadiz 3 hours ago
Both of those things are true in different ways.
Purpose built for azure probably means integration with azure meta data APIs and kernel specific tweaks for the hardware.
It could also be general purpose for what you can run on it.
Basically it's a curated distro. Not complicated or anything different from what AWS and GCE are doing.
embedding-shape 2 hours ago
> It could also be general purpose for what you can run on it.
Yeah of course, it's a Linux distribution. But feels like a marketing push when multiple people suddenly go "oh yeah Microsoft building a general purpose Linux distribution" when that's not what's happening. So what if it isn't general purpose and built purposefully for Azure? It doesn't remove anything, just being more accurate with how it's being marketed.
derefr 8 minutes ago
hparadiz 2 hours ago
yndoendo 3 hours ago
Your statement is contradicting with stating it was Purposely built for Azure.
Someone would have to make a Ubuntu equivalent and use Azure Linux as the base to turn it into a general purpose Linux OS.
Personally, I don't trust Microsoft and their Linux distro with how they Enshitified Windows OS and all of their other software products. Add in the fact that Microsoft likes to multi-count CVEs, per distro, instead of the actual flaw to try and make Windows OS look better when it comes to security.
Microsoft is a bad actor.
neogodless 6 hours ago
More on Azure Linux 4.0:
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48407499 Azure Linux 4.0 is Microsoft's first general-purpose Linux (boxofcables.dev)
1 day ago | 143 comments
sublimefire 5 hours ago
Even within MS Azure Linux is at odds because it is not working in WSL out of the box. Folks had to port stuff to AZL away from ubuntu but without an easy path to use WSL to continue development. Sure you could adopt it but there is something fundamentally fragmented if such an adoption vector is missing in WSL. Now this… why do I need AZL desktop?
pjmlp 2 hours ago
Of course not, people talk about what they don't know.
This was released this week, and Microsoft clearly stated it is coming to WSL later this year.
But people love to take conclusions without informing themselves.
haydenbarnes 2 hours ago
> it is not working in WSL out of the box
I added a bunch of weird stuff for the GUI and PowerShell for fun.
The base container boots out of the box just fine.
cyanydeez 4 hours ago
my theory is Microsoft's infrastructure does not yield as well do the best AI tools right now, which is all bash based; so they're struggling to 'catch up' so they can achieve at the least minimum gains.
bpavuk 6 hours ago
I am more excited about WinUI Reactor than anything else. the gap between Compose/React thinking and XAML thinking is enormous, and Reactor just bridges it. I am curious about interoperability - how would one include a Reactor-based component into existing WinUI 3 app? how would one include a XAML-based control from some other library into a (future) modern WinUI Reactor app?
pjmlp 6 hours ago
Don't be, if the WinUI team past performance is anything to come by.
They will leave it half baked like everything else since Project Reunion was announced in 2020.
baq 6 hours ago
The year of the Linux desktop.
Meanwhile I’m stuck on macOS for work. Oh the irony.
newsoftheday 3 hours ago
I retired last year but I too had to use a Mac for a year. It was the first and last time I ever used a Mac. I hated it. So many quirky behaviors, window controls on the wrong side, just wow I had a whole list I could have articulated last year but thankfully it's a distant memory now.
macNchz 2 hours ago
I used Macs my whole life until I built a PC in 2020 and put Linux on it. Recently I’ve started using a Mac again for work (and KVM switching between it and my Linux box), and I really do prefer Linux at this point. I have a variety of gripes, but Apple’s popup based “{App} wants to do {thing}” permissions model drives me bonkers, in particular.
QuercusMax 2 hours ago
This isn't a new observation by any means. You could literally have said that anytime in the last 3 or 4 decades about trying a mac when you're used to other systems.
And guess what? You can say exactly the same thing the other way around.
pjmlp 2 hours ago
It isn't a problem as long one understands the difference between UNIX and GNU/Linux.
For me Linux had been mostly the UNIX that we have back at home, while most work was done in Solaris, HP-UX, Aix, DG/UX.
I am not attached to Linux specifically.
baq an hour ago
The thing is, I'm not talking about POSIX or CLI; I'm strictly speaking about the desktop GUI. macOS keeps going into a direction which is actively preventing being efficient with it, all the while making weird net-negative decisions about looks for reasons which can only be explained by UI and UX designers trying to sell themselves as useful internally. I used to be an early adopter, now I'm waiting for the enterprise-forced upgrade of major versions, which is the only reason I'm upgrading at all.
thewebguyd 10 minutes ago
PowerElectronix 4 hours ago
We're getting there. But I doubt your average joe will ever use anything that may require even once to type something on a terminal.
newsoftheday 3 hours ago
The average Joe? My wife has used Linux since the mid-2000's. Her career was in Sales, far removed from anything technical. She loves Linux compared to Windows, her new laptop came with Windows and she bugged my for months to upgrade it to Linux, which I did recently. She doesn't use the terminal at all. Kubuntu, btw.
bokkies 3 hours ago
The thing is now the average Joe doesn't need to. Just tell Claude to fix it
carlosjobim 3 hours ago
leoncos 8 hours ago
Great work! I really hope it can be designed to be agent-friendly. The current CodeX/Claude code sandbox functionality is very limited; it would be wonderful to use this as a sandbox.
sshine 7 hours ago
I use bubblewrap inside Ubuntu inside WSL. https://github.com/nix-tools/bubblebox
haydenbarnes 2 hours ago
I had issues with bubblewrap inside the container and creating namespaces. Need to dig into a bit further.
dzonga 5 hours ago
someone once said - windows will die or will be killed by Microsoft - when they start pushing a windows flavored linux distro.
with all the arm chips coming into consumer hardware - seems we are about to be there.
abc123abc123 4 hours ago
Microsoft Linux... what an abomination. But each generation has to learn the lessons of the previous one, again and again. Have fun with the lock-in and e.e.e. Microsoft-fans!
pjmlp 2 hours ago
Devs already forgotten the IE lesson and have offered the Web on a plate to Google.
lordleft 4 hours ago
The return of Xenix :)
cryo32 6 hours ago
That’ll be deprecated in 6 months. Nope.
pjmlp 6 hours ago
This is not official.
Azure Linux 4.0 is the next version of Azure Linux (duh), and WSL base distro.
sterlind an hour ago
is it replacing CBL-Mariner as the utility distro for WSL?
AshamedCaptain 4 hours ago
Bluecurve? Is this some type of delayed April Fools?
haydenbarnes 2 hours ago
I was hoping someone would catch that.