Seeing this coming from Canonical, it seems unbelievable at first, but the numbers don't lie.
It might seem unbelievable, but according to this report, Ubuntu on Windows 11 PCs might overtake systems with native Ubuntu OS pretty soon. According to Canonical VP of Engineering Jon Seager, Ubuntu's user base through the Microsoft Windows Subsystem for Linux aka WSL is expanding rapidly.
Seager spoke to Orosz, claiming that the WSL user base is increasing significantly. Due to this phenomenon, Seager expects that the Ubuntu WSL users will outnumber the native Ubuntu users in not years, but in just a few months. By his statement, it appears that the Ubuntu WSL user base will become larger than the native Ubuntu user base before the 2026 ends.
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.
- Jon Seager
Keep in mind that this doesn't mean that Windows has suddenly overtaken Linux in overall usage. Instead, Canonical is comparing the people running Ubuntu through WSL with users who have installed Ubuntu as the primary operating system on their desktop PCs. Microsoft originally introduced WSL to give developers access to Linux tools without forcing them to leave Windows.
However, this feature has now turned many Windows PCs into Linux development machines. This is particularly convenient for AI and machine learning developers. Canonical says that it frequently hears from developers who receive Windows PCs from their employers, but afterwards discover that their workloads require a Linux OS. Therefore, instead of replacing Windows or configuring a dual-boot system, these developers simply install Ubuntu through WSL.
Microsoft has been improving WSL throughout 2026, and with improvements to file performance, networking, and setup, the environment has become more practical for demanding development workloads. Microsoft has additionally introduced WSL Containers, which allow developers to build and run Linux containers directly within Windows.
News Source: Windows Latest
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