I asked Canonical if Ubuntu on Windows will outgrow native installs as rumored - it's a no

Jon Seager, Canonical VP of Engineering Canonical/ZDNET

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ZDNET's key takeaways

Ubuntu on WSL isn't displacing Ubuntu on PCs anytime soon.

Linux on WSL is popular for enterprises and AI developers.

WSL helps programmers work across Windows and Linux.

There have been reports that Ubuntu on Windows may one day outgrow native Ubuntu installs. Nope, sorry, that's not true. I interviewed Jon Seager, Ubuntu Linux parent company Canonical's VP of engineering, and he told me, "No, not really, only that the growth rate is faster!" And growth, and the speed of that growth, are two very different things.

Wait, Ubuntu on Windows? Yes, thanks to Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL), it's long been possible to run Linux distros, including Ubuntu, on Windows.

Also: After 30 years with Linux, here's my way of convincing Windows users to switch

The confusion about Ubuntu on Windows' growth arose from comments Seager made out of context in an earlier interview. There, he said, "The growth in our WSL numbers is significantly higher than the growth in Desktop usage numbers."

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