After the clickbait-y headline that’s just Canonical sinking into mediocrity once again, there’s this:
Ubuntu is preparing for the AI PC, not just Linux desktops
Seager also described a push toward proper GPU, NPU, and DPU support, hardware partnerships with NVIDIA, AMD, and Intel, and CPU architecture optimization that makes Ubuntu run faster on newer chips without dropping support for older ones.
Ubuntu is also betting on local-first AI, building “inference snaps” that pick the right model and quantization automatically, along with early exploration into agentic workflows at the OS level. Ubuntu 26.04 LTS already ships with native support for both NVIDIA CUDA and AMD ROCm.
It doesn’t surprise me. After all it’s the default way to start using WSL.
But for people running full distros, it seems to me most are avoiding Ubuntu these days except if they are required to use it by their employer or something. In DistroWatch it seems Ubuntu’s popularity is slowly sinking.
wsl --installinstalls Ubuntu by default. If I had to use WSL, I’d try this first too.I think Ubuntu is also the only distro that has contracts with Microsoft to work on WSL.
Originally Ubuntu was marketing itself on freedom, and the open source culture that had made the Linux desktop possible.
Growing on Windows 11 is not helping promote freedom from proprietary software, so I don’t see that as a positive.
Ubuntu has lost perspective, and abandoned the ideals of Open Source IMO.“Here are the updates you would get if you were on Ubuntu Pro”
Growing on Windows 11 is not helping promote freedom from proprietary software
I mean, it might. It could very well be a stepping stone to full Linux.
Yes I guess it could, but then the growth should appear equally or greater as independent installs.
Extend.
Indeed. For those who are relatively new to IT: it’s a reference Embrace, Extend and Extinguish, a strategy known and legally confirmed to be used by Microsoft.
I assume it’s because people realized what Canonical is turning into and have stopped installing it. While at work you may still need some Linux tools on a Windows machine.
ew ubuntu
When getting into linux it was easy to remove ubuntu from the list due to them being like this.
Fedora considering ai earlier this year, and now debian talking about maybe slopping it too, is starting to creep me out even more about the future.
Last time Ubuntu was an obvious choice for beginners was like 15 years ago
Great thing about linux is we have an embarrassment of riches to choose from. They will never conquer us, we are legion!
There’s no way this will possibly bite them on the ass.
Imagine this headline: Microsoft buys Canonical! Their main devs will be transferred to the WSL division!
@SocialistVibes01 Do these numbers include “WSL” installs?
“In a year, the growth in our WSL numbers is significantly higher than the growth in Desktop usage numbers.”
“I expect to see more Ubuntu WSL users than ‘native’ Ubuntu users over the coming months.”
Of course, Canonical isn’t saying Windows now has more Linux users than Linux itself. Seager is comparing Ubuntu through WSL against Ubuntu installed natively on a Linux PC, and the WSL side is on track to win.
Well yeah it means WSL installs grow faster than full installs.
