Yes, Windows will catch up to Linux, mostly.
Which platform you develop on is going to depend on project needs. But for the most part, most developers will probably tell you that Linux is far superior than Windows for development or creativity (and some would even argue beyond those two). Linux is faster, more secure, maintains privacy, and is updated more quickly.
Linux is more secure because it is open-source, unlike the current nature of Windows. Contributors will more than likely catch a vulnerability faster than hackers can target a distro.
Linux runs faster than Windows because unlike Windows, the file system is more organized. It is also, for most distros, more lightweight where as Windows is more fatty. Basically, Windows usually has more unnecessary programs that run in the background compared to Linux.
At one point, you could say that Linux’s CLI tool was also way better, but you can’t make that claim anymore, because now you can use Bash within Command Prompt/PowerShell. Gasp!
So…about that bit above and why do you title this so?? Since 2018, Microsoft has embraced the idea of open-source more than it ever has in the past. Hugely supporting this notion, Microsoft released WSL1 (Windows Subsystem For Linux). This, for the first time, gave developers the ability to install and use bash within Windows. Now, you still couldn’t use many o’ tools that you can in a real Linux env, but it was a start. Oh, and did I mention that WSL is open-source as well?
This year, Windows released WSL2, a complete overhaul of WSL1. Unlike WSL1 that ‘faked’ a linux environment, WSL2 uses a full Linux Kernel that is developed and maintained by Microsoft. This kernel uses the base kernel found at kernel.org. It is also completely open source like its predecessor.
Another huge plus that WSL2 brings is the ability to perform system calls. System calls are how Linux Programs interact with the Kernel, it’s basically an API. This was not doable in WSL1 which I believe was partly because it didn’t use a full kernel (if any kernel at all). With this ability, we can now use MANY bash tools we take for granted in Linux such as Node, Flask, Docker, etc.
Unless Microsoft does another 180 and drastically scales back their plans, in the next decade we will see Windows basically Linuxized. This kind of excites me, having been a Windows user for…well, ever. I do enjoy Linux but I will never 100% abandon Windows for a few obvious reasons. One being gaming and another being gaming. Also, crypto mining is a bit easier to setup on Windows and there are a few other Windows Software must haves.
WSL opens the door for Windows to adopt open-source in its entirety, and I predict within this next decade the WSL will entirley wrap around Window’s core (without replacing it). This would mean that you could use both Windows and Linux software together without the need to have a VM instance running. But will this mean Windows going open source? Partly. I don’t think we’d ever see Windows go 100% free. We’d have free use of the WSL obviously, and likely much of the programs that the WSL would enable though.
I don’t think we’d ever really see different flavors of Windows being developed like Linux distros either, but we will see different types of Linux Subsystems that will mimic the behavior of the more popular distros and even some new ones entirely.
Now, that doesn’t mean that Windows will surpass Linux. One of the other advantages to using Linux over Windows in its current state that I mentioned is privacy. I think by now most of us realize that Microsoft collects data off its users. Now for me, this doesn’t really bother me but for many it does. At this future point you could say that Windows can run alongside Linux performance and security wise, MSFT would have to stop collecting data and scrub its DB of all the data its collected before the Linux community would ever consider adopting Windows over their existing distro of choice.
But none-the-less, I think it’s important to realize where MSFT is going with its adoption of Linux and open-source and where it will likely land Windows in the future, especially if you’re into OS development.
