Microsoft has become more focused on offering choices and including open source software options. That’s why it wasn’t much of a surprise when Microsoft announced during the Build keynote that Canonical, the company behind Ubuntu, has helped bring the Bash shell to Windows 10.
The Bash shell replaced the Bourne shell in Unix-based operating systems in 1989, and has become the standard since on both Mac OS X and almost all Linux systems. It’s easy to learn, versatile, and its reach has spread everywhere but Windows, until now.
Microsoft’s Bash shell integration isn’t just a gimmick, or a nice makeover. The command line has native access to the file system, and support for some of the most used Bash utilities.
That includes the popular code and text editor Emacs, which Kevin Gallo showed off during the on-stage introdution of the feature. That’s sure to be a hit with Linux users, many of whom have come to rely on both the Bash shell and Unix-based commands and software.
The Bash shell for Windows 10, which actually operates on a new Unix-based subsystem, also supports .sh shell scripts. That means users will be able to bring their existing scripts over to a Windows 10 system, or write new scripts in a familiar language.
Before you start worrying that Windows is going to change fundamentally to become a more Linux-like OS, it’s important to understand exactly what Bash will look like on Windows. Like launching the PowerShell, or Command Prompt, the Bash shell exists as a standalone application.
Details beyond that are still scant, but Gallo indicated the Bash shell would be enabled in the Anniversary update. Like most updates, Windows Insiders will have access to it earlier, although Microsoft hasn’t shared an exact date for that rollout.
Gallo also left the door open for more command line shells to find their way into Windows eventually. Microsoft desperately wants developers to come back to Windows, and develop for the universal Windows platform. Letting them speak their own language instead of learning a new one is just one step further towards achieving that goal.
After five years with Apple silicon, from the original M1 MacBook Air to the M5 MacBook Air released earlier this year, I've watched these chips mature not just on the spec sheet, but in real-world workflows and overall efficiency.
The new M6 chip might sound like a routine generational upgrade, but it's the company's first chip built on a 2nm manufacturing process, which brings meaningful improvements over previous Apple chips.
Gemini Notebook’s mobile app now has a built-in recorder for capturing lectures and meetings as sources. You can record directly where you’ll use the material, skipping the separate recording app and the file upload afterward.
Google announced the feature on X, highlighting classroom lectures and team meetings as potential uses. It also works for capturing your own thoughts, so you can talk through an idea and bring that explanation into your notebook while it’s still fresh.
In 1950, Alan Turing asked whether machines can think. Rather than argue over definitions, he turned the question into a party game, where an interrogator trades typed messages with hidden players and tries to work out who is who. Since then, chatbots have gotten so good that they have already fooled humans in modern versions of the test.
So, four researchers from Paris Cité University asked the obvious follow-up question in a new study published in Computers in Human Behavior Reports: can AI at least catch its own kind?