A real madness, right? The title already seems like a joke, but it has been commented by someone who does not usually say too much stupid and who knows the industry well. In fact, it was the same person who told me that Linus Torvalds would return after his temporary cessation of command of Linux in Linux version 4.20 and he did. Right after announcing kernel version 4.19, Torvalds took control of his project again. I am referring to Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols, for those of you who don't know ...
And now he has dared something as strong as this news. Will it be right again? The truth is that it is true or not, this news would like many as well as alarm many others. But that next Windows 11 is based on the Linux kernel Instead of Microsoft's Windows NT kernel, it would be far more shocking news than Richard Stallman giving a speech at Microsoft headquarters.
Steven is based on that the numerous problems of Windows 10 in which you will almost dislike for update they have a complicated basic problem to solve. The numerous releases of Windows 10 have brought from problems that prevent certain computers from starting, other updates that leave the WiFi connection unusable, another that deleted files without your consent from certain folders, and a long etc., that does not seem to stop.
Yesterday when I heard this news I was joking with a friend about whether Linux will come to correct Microsoft Windows problems or if Microsoft will come to spoil Linux. But no kiddingLet's go to what Steven has commented to make that assumption. He thinks that faced with problems as serious as those in Windows 10, desperate measures may be necessary. Would this be good for the Linux world? I sincerely doubt it, and I would prefer that everything continues as it is, because it could lead to many distro projects ...
Steven has toyed with this idea for many years, but now he seems to be taking it more seriously due to recent events. For users there would be no change, the next Windows would not have changes, except that the kernel that moves everything would be Linux and not NT. That would mean all native software running on Linux. But personally I see several problems with this, on the one hand that it is likely that there is no such Windows 11 due to the current policy of updates as a rolling-release from Microsoft.
On the other hand, to carry all the software to run on Linux it would be a brutal effort. Although for that, Steven says that there are already very advanced projects. It is based on the fact that WSL (Windows Subsystem Linux) is already there, and also projects like Wine and other implementations such as CrossOver and Valve Proton for Steam. That already has a lot of "translated" system calls or syscalls to work on Linux.
Currently, projects like those mentioned do not work at all fine because Microsoft has the closed code of its API and they do not have full functionality. But if Microsoft provided what machinery like Wine lacks, it would have what it takes to "grease" it and make the native software work like a charm. This on the other hand could be beneficial collaterally with GNU / Linux due to what it would contribute, but also destructive if it manages to capture the attention of users who now run a GNU / Linux distro.
Anyway, this is not a fact currently. And although Linux is the most used in the Microsoft Azure platform, and although they have opened a lot of code, released some tools for Linux, bought GitHub, contributed code to the Linux kernel, and are even members of the Linux Foundation, I'm not sure if the future goes out there or rather the future is in the cloud ...
Would you like to see a Windows X with a Linux kernel? Do not forget to leave your comments with what you think ... I repeat that, although the success of Linux in the definitive desktop sector seems, it could have serious consequences. Do you remember the EEA (Embrace, Extend and Extinguish)? Watch out! I already commented something similar in the article about the exFAT case.