The future of the Linux desktop can look like this:
Win32/Linux?
I'd just like to interject for a moment. What you're refering to as Linux, is in fact, Win32/Linux, or as I've recently taken to calling it, loss32 Win32 plus Linux. Linux is not an operating system unto itself, but rather another free component of a fully functioning system made useful by WINE, the ReactOS userland, and other vital system components comprising a full OS as defined by Microsoft.
Okay, but seriously what is this?
A dream of a Linux distribution where the entire desktop environment is Win32 software running under WINE. A completely free and open-source OS where you can just download .exe files and run them, for the power user who isn't necessarily a Unixhead, or just for someone who thinks this sounds fun.
Isn't this just ReactOS?
ReactOS tries to reimplement the Windows NT kernel, and that has always been its Achilles heel, holding it back from a hardware compatibility and stability standpoint. The loss32 concept is to achieve a similar-feeling end result to ReactOS, but built on a more usable foundation, using components known to work well (the Linux kernel, WINE, everything that glues those together, and a sprinkling of ReactOS userland niceties). As a bonus, the OS would still technically be a Linux distro, so it would be possible to run Linux software when necessary, something ReactOS can't do.
Why build this?
- The late-90's-to-early-2010's PC desktop experience was great for power users, especially creative users. Let's keep the dream alive.
- WINE has a lot of unfortunate rough edges that people only tolerate because they use WINE as a last resort. A desktop environment where everything runs in WINE will stimulate making WINE better for everyone, whether they're going to use this project or not.
- Win32 is the stable Linux ABI!
- Because we can.
Win32 is the stable Linux ABI?!
Yes. I can't tell you how many times the ability to just download a goddamn .exe file and run it in WINE has saved my ass. Seemingly every creative project I undertake eventually requires downloading some piece of software which is either impossible or impractical to rebuild myself, and whose Linux and macOS ports no longer work or never existed. There's more than three decades of Win32 software — .exe files! — that can run in WINE or (of course) on Windows. No other ABI has that kind of compatibility record. WINE can even run Win16 stuff too.
The really cool thing about Win32 is it's also the world's stable ABI. There's lots of fields of software where the GNU/Linux and POSIX-y offerings available are quite limited and generally poor in quality, e.g. creative software and games. Win32 gives you access to a much larger slice of humanity's cultural inheritance.
Is that a real screenshot?
Yes! That's just stable WINE running on Debian 13. There's a lot of rough edges you can't see in the screenshot that make it somewhat uncomfortable for use for the time being. The goal of the project is to fix many of the rough edges and package up this environment in an easily installable form.
How do I help?
Thanks for asking! This website was written by hikari_no_yume on 2025-12-29, who is currently at 39C3 (I'm usually at the assembly called – ask for me there!). You can email me, or you can lurk in #loss32 on irc.libera.chat. I'd especially like to hear from you if you know things about or would be willing to help with:
- How to package a desktop environment (e.g. on Debian) so that it will show up in the list of desktop environments on the login screen
- Wayland compositors that don't impose a desktop environment on you (currently I'm using the standalone version of mutter)
- WINE, especially its version of explorer.exe, shell32.dll stuff, HiDPI scaling, packaging, how it handles the Start Menu entries, …
- ReactOS, epecially its version of explorer.exe, shell32.dll stuff, how the ReactOS userland differs from WINE's, …
- Making a Linux distro generally
- Statically linking WINE to musl and freetype and so on and throwing out as much of the Linux userland as possible (mostly to make jokes about how it's not actually GNU/Linux if there's no GNU)
- Win32 programming
- Or anything you think might be useful for this project :)