alt Hacker NewsOkay what is it with WSL naming, this always confuses me. Shouldn't it be Linux subsystem for Windows?
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The core of the software is a subsystem, specifically a Windows subsystem; you're not running this subsystem on macOS or FreeBSD.
The "for Linux" is added because it's a subsystem for Linux applications (originally not leveraging a VM).
Microsoft also had the "Microsoft POSIX subsystem" (1993) and "Windows Services for UNIX" (1999) which were built on the "Subsystem for Unix-based Applications" (rather than "Unix-based Application Subsystem"). That chain of subsystems died at the end of Windows 8, though.
There are many reasons not to put "Linux" in front, but the naming is consistent with Microsoft's naming inconsistencies. It's not the first time they used "subsystem for" and it's not the first time they used "Windows x for y" either.
The naming is ambiguous, you could interpret the Windows subsystem for Linux as a subsystem of Linux (if it had such a thing) that runs Windows, or as a Windows subsystem for use with Linux. Swapping the order doesn't change that.
In other languages, the difference would be clearer.
"Windows subsystem" was an existing term of art on the NT architecture.
It’s a sub-system of Windows that is used for Linux.
It can work either way though.
Other people already answered but windows was just another personality on the original idea that cutler had for WNT. It just took a while for it to get implemented as a linux
To reciprocate the naming of Wine, maybe it could have been named Line. Also, both have this positive clang, being associated with "having a good time".
I always have the same problem myself. Same as I had with version naming of old programs like "Microsoft Word for Windows 2.0" instead of the easier "Microsoft Word 2.0 for Windows".
Windows' subsystem for Linux
(Windows 9x) (Subsystem for Linux)
It's a dominance thing. Classic abuser behaviour.
Yeah, you'd think from this that it is running Linux on Windows 9x.
Microsoft names of products turn around likes, e.g.
OpenOffice XML [1] -> Office Open XML [2]
If you google there are many reasonable reasons for it. But the most straight forward is:
> Because we cannot name something leading with a trademark owned by someone else.
https://xcancel.com/richturn_ms/status/1245481405947076610?s...