Hi,
I have thought about this for a while. If straightforward APIs were written to expose an underlying Linux system, then Win32 could be extended to make a great application s programming layer on Linux, with legacy Microsoft compatibility being easy to implement. Who is already thinking along these lines?
A better Windows than Windows would not be all that hard, and an active Linux API for experienced Windows developers to be able to apply their skills to would not be all that bad. Most of the bad design decisions Microsoft made over the years could simply be deprecated and the high quality parts retained.
Likewise pure Win64 as a Linux API. Importantly, adding standard data structures (follow clojure and Json here) so that objects can be passed copy on write via IPC between Gnu programs, and Win32tux and Win64tux (my nickname) with minimal computational overhead.
It is an old approach, known as Embrace and Extend. I am sure many on this forum are familiar with it.
