Craig Loewen has had a love for technology ever since he was a child and has grown passionate about building things that empower people. From constructing his own quadcopter for photography to delivering developer tools that aid developers in driving technological innovation, he has done it all.

As a product manager at Microsoft, he is responsible for the Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL), a developer tool used by over 3 million developers and IT professionals. He defines the product vision and prioritizes the feature roadmap based on customer data, technical feedback, and market studies. On the personal side, he volunteers as a mentor at First Robotics, teaching high school students how to build robots and fostering a passion for STEM.

Topics of Discussion:

[3:52] Craig’s career journey, starting as an intern working on Windows console and WSL features.

[5:18] Common use cases for WSL — allowing developers to use Linux tools while staying on Windows.

[7:43] How to get started with WSL.

[8:59] Does Craig have any favorite Linux programs?

[10:05] New Dev Home feature for managing WSL distros with a graphical interface.

[11:36] How WSL works using virtualization technology.

[13:35] Memory management in WSL — typical usage and automatic optimization.

[15:22 WSL is designed primarily for development scenarios, not production environments.

[20:33] Integration of local AI and small language models with WSL using VS Code AI Toolkit.

[23:37] Using small language models for various tasks, including issue labeling and search functionality.

[27:35] Intro to Sudo for Windows, bringing Linux-like elevated permissions to Windows commands.

[28:39] What exactly is Sudo?

[32:39] New enterprise features for WSL, including security controls and integration with Microsoft Defender.

Mentioned in this Episode:

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Software Engineer Forum

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Clear Measure, Inc. (Sponsor)

.NET DevOps for Azure: A Developer’s Guide to DevOps Architecture the Right Way, by Jeffrey Palermo — Available on Amazon!

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Craig Loewen

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