Bonum Certa Men Certa

Microsoft's WSL Program Manager Admits WSL Adoption Level Has Been Absurdly Low

Microsoft's fake 'Linux' (actually it is Windows with new clothing) is a laughable failure that cost Microsoft a lot of money and the target audience broadly rejects after nearly half a decade

WSL, WSL2; Number of users: unknown, ~150k



Summary: All those evasive responses from Microsoft employees make more sense now that someone with the insiders' insight spills the beans; the person recently revealed just how appalling adoption had been; Microsoft is unable (or unwilling) to even refute

THE Microsoft folks will need to give some answers. We, together with former Microsoft staff who know Microsoft is hiding an embarrassment, have made inquiries and are patiently waiting; hours later and still no reply (although they very well know the answer, can give it offhand).



Sure, we welcome a belated response (or refutation) but strongly doubt any is actually on the way because it happened several times before. Empty promises that they would divulge some numbers -- promises they keep breaking.

"The Microsoft folks will need to give some answers.""I don't expect a reply," I told a former Microsoft employee, who keeps pressing Microsoft itself to admit that WSL and WSL2 have been utter failure.

A lack of reply too is newsworthy too, of course; they're brag like nobody's business if the numbers were high!

Let's give it a day, I thought...

Well, a day or so has passed and Microsoft's WSL Program Manager is giving a non-denying 'denial'. "Dude seems bitter," one reader told us. "IMO, the tone of his response, deflection, and ad hominem leads me to believe that your information is accurate."

In other words, only about 150 thousand people actually use this thing. It's ridiculously low, not only by Microsoft's standards. They've already thrown millions of dollars into this thing, including fake (astroturfed) media coverage.

We are still waiting for a reply -- if any -- from "Rich Tur-minal-ner-d," the Program Manager (his Twitter profile says "Sr. PM @ Microsoft. Modernizing the Windows Command-Line via Terminal & WSL, and improving the Windows Developer Platform" and he openly defends Microsoft's patent blackmail, so you know how much he "loves" Linux).

"...only about 150 thousand people actually use this thing."WSL has been almost exclusively promoted by Microsoft boosters or 'assets' embedded in the media (no need to name them again; we've known them for over a decade). They've done this for years.

"Sorry," he said, "we don't comment on unsubstantiated rumors nor absurd numbers..."

Those are not rumors. The source is reliable.

When pressed for actual numbers he then responded with: "Let me check."

He said that last year as well. And he never got back to us.

"Check if it's OK to say it's more or less correct?"

That was my reply to him. He's probably checking with Microsoft's executive level how to spin their way out of this one...

And we agree it's an absurd number. Absurdly low. And true...

"And why does Canonical help Microsoft promote this thing? How much has Microsoft paid Canonical to do this?"We think it's safe for GNU/Linux news sites to just ignore WSL 'news'. Scare quotes are fitting because it's just PR, powered by embedded 'stunts'... including misleading headlines. It's the only kind of news that says "Linux" and we won't post in Daily Links. Because it's not about Linux, it is about Vista 10. They hijack the Linux brand to promote their malware, which includes keylogging.

WSL is a dead end; It's a dying niche effort by Microsoft to hijack GNU/Linux the EEE way...

People can easily install, free of charge, proper GNU/Linux or even run it in something like VirtualBox. WSL (and WSL2) is obsolete, mimicking something like Cygwin from 2 decades ago. Who on Earth thought geeks would adopt such trash? Maybe the real goal was just to googlebomb "Linux" with Vista 10 "ads" (media space, or "mindshare" as Microsoft typically calls it). ZDNet and these Microsoft boosters currently googlebomb "Linux" with other Microsoft spam (Azure/Microsoft promotion) and this too we've omitted from Daily Links because it's very clearly a PR stunt designed to distract from actual GNU/Linux news. They even got coverage in mainstream media that never mentions GNU/Linux at all. Microsoft has just got that media to play along. To them, it's like GNU/Linux never exists at all except when Microsoft controls it and tells them to cover it. We've seen several more like this one; about half a dozen in total just yesterday (and it boils down to nothing but Microsoft offering some money... it's only about money, not substance). "Slush funds" from a PR viewpoint.

About WSL, did Microsoft actually expect decent adoption? Who at Microsoft thought this was a good idea? And why does Canonical help Microsoft promote this thing? How much has Microsoft paid Canonical to do this?

Comments

Recent Techrights' Posts

Coping With the Site Going More Mainstream
Fame is no laughing matter
21 Pages in Less Than 7 Hours is No Joking Matter
We've become a lot more effective and efficient
Generation Chaff - Phase V: Censorship of Dissent (Painted as Harassment or Terrorism)
Censorship is all around us now
Generation Chaff - Phase IV: Apps Only Few Companies Decide On
Tools are being collectively confiscated, under the premise or false prospect of "security"
 
Links 24/10/2025: "Independent Media in Cambodia is Collapsing" and Serious F5 Breach
Links for the day
They Never 'Put Down' Corporations
There are "pests" that are traded in Wall Street
Correct Information is a Valued Asset in the Age of Slopfarms and Public Relations (PR) or Spin
Publishing suppressed facts is never easy
The Register MS Continues to Bag Money to Promote a Ponzi Scheme, Even Money From China
Today in the front page
analytics.usa.gov: The Only Supported Version of Windows (This Past Week) is Only Used by About 13.9% of People in the US, the Home Base of Windows
Even Vista 7 is still used more
Rust is Very Secure
If only Rust itself is secure
Who Will be Held Accountable for Breaking Ubuntu by Imposing Rust on Otherwise-Functional Programs, in Effect Replacing GNU With Proprietary Microsoft (GitHub)?
they're practical people who merely point out that a bunch of buffoons not only ruin Ubuntu but also every future distro based on Ubuntu
Generation Chaff - Phase VIII: In Summary
Like "Science" with a capital "S", what we see here commercial interests usurping everything
Generation Chaff - Phase VII: Curtailing Alternative Media
There was always an obligation - a collective duty of sorts - to uphold independent journalism
Generation Chaff - Phase VI: Centralisation of Information (X, Cheetok/Fentanylware)
Would you trust information when controlled by such people?
Generation Chaff - Phase III: Slop and Plagiarism
A lot of the current so-called 'economy' is built upon false valuations
Generation Chaff - Phase II: "Cloud", Blockchains and Other Hype
For those of us who turned down those propositions there was a struggle; we needed to justify not having skinnerboxes or "social" accounts in some site run by a private company
Generation Chaff - Phase I: Social Control Media
IRC predates the Web
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Thursday, October 23, 2025
IRC logs for Thursday, October 23, 2025
More Clues Shed on Collapse of Microsoft XBox
XBox is basically circling down the drain as Microsoft implements 2-3 waves of layoffs each month
'Vibe Coding' Doesn't Work
In a lot of ways, so-called 'Vibe Coding' is already considered vapourware or a passing fad promoted in the media by managers who try to justify mass layoffs, especially ridding companies of "very expensive" software engineers
Links 24/10/2025: Microsoft's Killing of XBox Connected to Revenue/Profit Problems, "How Elon Musk Ruined Twitter"
Links for the day
Gemini Links 24/10/2025: 86,400 Seconds and "Society's Task"
Links for the day
Slopwatch: Google News and Slopfarms That Relay Nonsense From LLMs
Google News, which once prioritised or used to care about provenance and quality, is feeding slopfarms
Links 23/10/2025: More Health Concerns Over Dumb Chatbots (LLMs) and "Talking Cars" as Latest Buzz
Links for the day
Gemini Links 23/10/2025: Daylight Savings Time and Duration Shorthand
Links for the day
Links 23/10/2025: LLM 'Hallucinations' (Defects) in Practical Code 'Generation', China Becomes More Economically and Technologically Independent
Links for the day
Why We Support Richard Stallman and You Probably Should Too
It's not about being "Richard Stallman fan", it is about maintaining the right to hold positions (on technology) like his
Linux Foundation Uses LLM Slop to Promote Microsoft in Linux.com (Again), Rendering It a Linux-Hostile Slopfarm
Openwashing with slop by "Linux.com Editorial Staff", which basically seems to be a bot
Some Large German Media Covers Richard Stallman's Talks in Germany Earlier This Week
LLM-based chatbots are just "bullshit generators" (as he has long called them)
Links 23/10/2025: Windows TCO Galore and "The Internet Is Going to Break Again"
Links for the day
Trouble in Red Hat/IBM and a Retreat to Ponzi Economics in Search of Wall Street Market Heist
Would you invest your life savings in this kind of crap?
Who Asked Software in the Public Interest (SPI) for a Refund? ($100,000, Resulting in Losses of $267,201 in 12 Months, Highest-Ever Losses)
The IRS does not reveal who or what's tied to this refund (or the cause/reason)
Social engineering attack: Debian voted to trick you on binary blobs
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Techrights Will Always Stand for Women's Rights
We even invest money - personal savings that it - in our principles
Certified Lawyers Should Know Better (Than to Intimidate Us With Man Who Drives on Motorcycle Through a Really Bad Storm Between Distant Cities, Then Collects Photos of Our Home)
Mentioning someone was in prison for bad things isn't a crime, it's a public service
The "AI" (Slop) Bubble is Already Imploding
"ChatGPT Usage Has Peaked and Is Now Declining, New Data Finds"
The So-called "Sexy" Buckets (AI, Quantum) Cannot Save IBM From Reality, Shares Tank
"No matter how much financial hocus-pocus they use to reclassify revenues to land in the "sexy" buckets (AI, Quantum), it still smells old and musty - just like this company."
Paul Krugman is Wrong About the Scope of Mass Layoffs in the United States
A few years ago society was accelerating its journey towards feudalism, boosted by COVID-19
Links 23/10/2025: Proprietary Blunders and CISA's Latest Disclosure of Holes
Links for the day
Gemini Links 23/10/2025: Fast Past (F1), 99.9% Uptime
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Wednesday, October 22, 2025
IRC logs for Wednesday, October 22, 2025
Slopwatch: Google News is Promoting Fake 'Articles' About Fake Xubuntu, Fake Articles About Replacing Windows With GNU/Linux
The quality of the Web deteriorates and unless someone cleans up the mess, real sites will lose an incentive to produce anything
When "AI Layoffs" Mean Layoffs Due to the "AI" Bubble Popping
many people that are laid off by Microsoft claim to be specialists in "AI"
Mysterious grant forfeited, $100,000 from Software in the Public Interest accounts 2023
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Evidence: bullying, student union behaviour: Armijn Hemel's FSFE resignation
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Evidence: psychological abuse, stalking, Galia Mancheva, Susanne Eiswirt ignored by FSFE judgment for Matthias Kirschner
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Helping FSFE scam victims and conference organisers
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Nigerian fraud in FSFE constitution
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Worrying and Amusing Stories of "Clown Computing" Gone Awry
Many of these disasters could be avoided
Links 22/10/2025: Amazon Plans to Replace Workers With Robotics, AWS and Clown Computing in General Ridiculed
Links for the day
Gemini Links 22/10/2025: Niri Completely Changes Multitasking and Overview of Diff-ers
Links for the day
Links 22/10/2025: Study on Misinformation by Slop and Heavily Debt-Sabbled Microsoft OpenAI (ClosedSlop) Uses "Browser" as Gimmick/Distraction
Links for the day
They've Already Spent Close to a Million Dollars on Lawyers and Sent Us About 50 KG of Legal Papers (Sponsored by Mysterious Third Party) to Try to Censor Techrights, Without Success
They try to overcompensate with sheer volume for a lack of solid, clear arguments (we are the victims here)
12 Months Ago the 'Hulk Hogan of UEFI' Officially Went 'Tag-Team'
We're actually sort of flattered or proud that such despicable people are so desperate to censor us
"Cloud Computing" Was Always a Joke, But This Week Was the Punchline
Maybe stop following tech trends and fashions
"Cloud Computing" Does Not Mean Safety
Fault tolerance is related to the notion of software freedom
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Tuesday, October 21, 2025
IRC logs for Tuesday, October 21, 2025
The Fall of Windows: From Something to Nothing
Of course Microsoft will pretend everything is fine and "just trust the hey hi" (AI)