Microsoft Speeds Up Mesa VA-API Video Acceleration For FFmpeg

[F.Ultra]

That doesn't mean either that MS will allow that choice (most companies decide your system for you) nor that it will pay for the development to improve your choice (the companies that allow choice often do so with a "you're on your own" attitude).

There have been an increase in "work on whatever you like for x% of your work time" as a work benefit within the IT industry since Google introduced it, so to compete for employees I would imagine that even MS would implement such a benefit.

[bpetty]

Could be. Is the perf that much of a turd presently? I never touched WSL so I'd be curious to hear from those who have played with WSL in this arena.

Windows 11 WSL 2 is almost as quick as running Linux natively | TechRadar

I've been using it professionally for a few years now. It has honestly been great for development.
Its primarily used for teams running docker containers so that you can run linux containers under windows... in a professional setting.

Running X in WSL and connecting that with a display app, to my knowledge, is not common but I know MS is pushing that based on their release notes.
If you want my opinion why they are doing this? Docker. Its far better for everyone if an environment was shipped using Docker than as a standalone VM.
If you are into Cyber Security and there was a Docker version of Kali Linux that you could X into vs a VMWare VM (just an example off the top of my head), your download would be much smaller, and it would run much faster using few resources. That is my opinion on why MS is pushing this for WSL, its not for running a stable version of NetRunner or Linux-Only games... its to completely kill off linux virtual machines and the need to dual boot.

[arQon]

I don't understand what MS is getting out of this. It's a nice patch but I can't help but wonder why they're doing it.

Because, obviously, in the immediate term it gives them a competitive advantage and a PR advantage, and in the long term it's zero-loss and *still* has a PR benefit, therefore it's a clear net win and not only does it make sense for them to do it, it would be stupid not to.

If they had the option, they'd doubtless have added it "in secret" - but they don't have that option, so given the above it still makes sense.