Instead, this allows you to run the Bash shell and the exact same binaries you’d normally run on Ubuntu Linux. Linux is the underlying operating system kernel, and that isn’t available here. Microsoft worked with Canonical to offer a full Ubuntu-based Bash shell environment that runs atop this subsystem. While Wine allows you to run Windows applications directly on Linux, the Windows Subsystem for Linux allows you to run Linux applications directly on Windows. It’s based on Microsoft’s abandoned Project Astoria work for running Android apps on Windows. Instead, Windows 10 offers a full Windows Subsystem intended for Linux for running Linux software. This isn’t a virtual machine, a container, or Linux software compiled for Windows (like Cygwin). RELATED: Everything You Can Do With Windows 10's New Bash Shell What You Need to Know About Windows 10’s Bash Shell