Ubuntu on Windows

This is good news for developers with Macs, and it has nothing to do with an option to switch platforms.

By doing this, Microsoft are legitimising bash as an OS feature for "developers who like unix". This has two effects on Apple:

1. It means they will be less likely to remove their bash CLI from a future OSX / iOS hybrid workstation OS nightmare that we all don't like to think about.

2. They will have to compete with Microsoft for customers who are "developers who like unix". Competition is good for us, the users.

I was thinking this as well. The bash version which is included with OS X is really old[0]. They refuse to ship any software which is licensed under GPLv3. It makes me wonder if they will reverse on that stance?

Homebrew also breaks with every major OS X release. It would be really nice to get some 1st party support on a package manager.

I feel like Apple does the bare minimum in this area to stay POSIX compliant. I would really like to see them feel some pressure here.

[0] https://www.reddit.com/r/bash/comments/393oqv/why_is_the_ver...

Doesn't stop you from installing homebrew, and installing a newer version of bash though.

> Microsoft are legitimising bash as an OS feature for "developers who like unix".

You are imputing far too much power to Microsoft. It's Linux operating systems that have "legitimized" the Bourne Again shell as an operating system feature, long since and with more clout than Microsoft could wield in this regard.

As such, if Apple can stand up to the "pressure" from a quarter of a century of Linux operating systems, several of which are no longer "bash everywhere" in any case, it can stand up to any pressure that the Windows NT Linux subsystem could possibly exert.

Anyway, "developers who like Unix" hopefully also like its long-standing notion, going back to the 1970s, that there is not only one shell. Thompson, Bourne, Almquist, C, TENEX C, Korn 88, Korn 93, MirBSD Korn, Bourne Again, Z, Debian Policy-compliant, Debian Almquist, Friendly Interactive, Yet Another, ....

Given that this new subsystem is touted as giving developers the means to run Ubuntu toolsets, it behooves us all to look and see what Ubuntu (14.04, the same as in the demo video) actually has when it comes to shells:

* http://packages.ubuntu.com/hu/trusty/shells/