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I was wondering if it is somehow technologically possible for Windows to add some sort of Linux interface? I think it would win over many programmers to develop on Windows.

Any ideas on this?

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Why not use powershell? – SnOrfus May 2 '11 at 20:49
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Windows does not use DOS. – grawity May 3 '11 at 5:11
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Powershell is painfully irritating to use. In addition, its documentation is deplorable. – Brian Vandenberg Jul 28 '11 at 18:36
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4 Answers

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As well as Cygwin which @ChrisF has mentioned, you can also install a collection of tools ported from Unix that run in a normal Windows environment. Two such examples:

This enables you to be in a Command Prompt and use commands such as grep, ls, awk and so on. Once you've put the extracted folder in your environment path, the experience of using them is pretty seamless and blends in well:

enter image description here

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up vote 12 down vote

Take a look at Cygwin. It's

a collection of tools which provide a Linux look and feel environment for Windows.

(taken from their home page).

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Yeah I know about Cygwyn, but I was asking why they don't make in more integrated? Its annoying to have to install new software when it could also be already part of your system. – Genadinik May 2 '11 at 20:32
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@Genadinik - you should have included that in your question ;). There's no native support (nor can I see why Microsoft would want to include it) so you're stuck with installing a 3rd party application. – ChrisF May 2 '11 at 20:36
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up vote 6 down vote

Running Cygwin will install a number of familiar linux shells like Bash and TCH, and allow you to run the shells in Windows, but also run linux applications directly from the Windows command line.

Make sure that all the /bin/ directories installed in Cygwin are in your Windows PATH variable, and you can have the hybrid Windows/Linux experience from Windows. Even ls.

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up vote 2 down vote

There's Portable Ubuntu for Windows.

It runs Ubuntu as a windows application, instead of having to boot it separately.

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Yawn, he didn't ask for a VM. – mathepic May 2 '11 at 23:07
@mathepic - It isn't a VM. – Brian Vandenberg May 2 '11 at 23:21
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from the article (since your homepage is a broken link), it looks like its a VM that integrates with Windows. – mathepic May 2 '11 at 23:24
@mathepic - As you pointed out, the homepage link is broken. I'll remove that. However, the following wikipedia entry backs up my statement: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/… – Brian Vandenberg May 3 '11 at 15:28
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