Ubuntu available in the Windows Store; SUSE and Fedora to come soon

News edit 7/11/2017: This article incorrectly stated that Ubuntu was available in the Windows Store at the time of writing (May 11, 2017). Ubuntu was not made available until July 11th, as we reported here. We apologize for any confusion this may have caused.

We’ve previously reported on the Wine project, a compatibility layer that aims to allow Linux users to run Windows programs natively in their Linux-based desktop environment. While this software is used to bring Windows into Linux, Microsoft hopes to bring Linux into Windows.

Announced at their Build 2017 event earlier today, Microsoft’s plans to bring Ubuntu, SUSE, and Fedora to the Windows Store. Users will be able to download whatever flavor of Linux they prefer through the Store and essentially run a virtualized Linux environment in Windows. Through the environment, users will have full access to the Linux command line and will be able to run Bash commands.

Since these can be downloaded via the Windows Store, they should also run on Windows 10 S, Microsoft’s latest version of the venerable OS. Windows 10 S is more restrictive than a standard version of Windows 10 in that it is only able to run apps from the Windows Store. There’s been some controversy over this decision, especially since this limits Windows 10 S to Mircosoft’s Edge browser for internet access and Bing for an online search engine. I wonder if access to Bash via a Linux distro will allow clever users to circumvent this restriction and install their own web browser or other software not available on the Windows Store. If so, that could make Windows 10 S a bit more enticing to PC users.

Ubuntu is available now through the Windows Store. SUSE and Fedora should be available in the near future.

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