Microsoft dropped plenty of jaws way back when it launched the Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL), a way to run actual Linux inside Windows without the need to set up a virtual machine. The project has seen a ton of support, and WSL 2 is the latest and greatest.
It takes things a little further and adds yet more awesomeness to the Linux experience on Windows 10 and Windows 11. WSL 2 uses a proper Linux kernel compared to the virtualized one from the first version, and it has significantly better performance.
