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:

Clear Measure Way

Architect Forum

Software Engineer Forum

Programming with Palermo — New Video Podcast! Email us at programming@palermo.net.

Clear Measure, Inc. (Sponsor)

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

Jeffrey Palermo’s Twitter — Follow to stay informed about future events!

Craig Loewen

What is the Windows Subsystem for Linux

Windows Subsystem for Linux, Your Enterprise Ready Multitool

Zero to Hero — Develop your first app with Local LLMs on Windows

Want to Learn More?

Visit AzureDevOps.Show for show notes and additional episodes.

Damian Brady is a Staff Developer Advocate at GitHub. He’s a developer, speaker, and author specializing in DevOps, MLOps, developer process, and software architecture. Formerly a Cloud Advocate at Microsoft for four years, and before that, a dev at Octopus Deploy and a Microsoft MVP, he has a 25-year background in software development and consulting in a broad range of industries. In Australia, he co-organized the Brisbane .Net User Group and launched the annual DDD Brisbane conference.

Topics of Discussion:

[3:45] When Damian realized he was interested in the things surrounding software development.

[6:40] GitHub Copilot and AI tools to improve developer workflows.

[8:50] What can people love GitHub Copilot for today?

[16:06] How GitHub Copilot can assist developers without replacing them.

[21:11] AI-powered code generation and bug detection.

[25:15] Improving AI’s ability to complete tasks by providing context and grounding it in truth.

[29:23] How the process of adding a new field works.

[34:03] Using Copilot to improve code development workflows.

[42:03] The “ship to learn” idea.

Mentioned in this Episode:

Clear Measure Way

Architect Forum

Software Engineer Forum

Programming with Palermo — New Video Podcast! Email us at programming@palermo.net.

Clear Measure, Inc. (Sponsor)

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

Jeffrey Palermo’s Twitter — Follow to stay informed about future events!

Ep 258 with Damian Brady

Github Copilot Workspace

Damian on Twitter

Damian Brady

GitHub Next

CoPilot for Docs

GitHub Next

CoPilot for CLI

Copilot Voice

Want to Learn More?

Visit AzureDevOps.Show for show notes and additional episodes.

Kayla Cinnamon is a Senior Product Manager at Microsoft working on the developer experience in Windows. This includes Dev Home and PowerToys. Kayla formerly worked on Windows Terminal and Cascadia Code, which is the font you all use inside Visual Studio. She holds a Master’s degree in Information Technology from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute with a concentration in Human-Computer Interaction. She recently was a speaker at the recent Microsoft Build conference.

Topics of Discussion:

[6:02] Kayla talks about DevHome.

[7:18] Examples of having agency over your machine.

[9:05] Setting up an environment in DevHome and a WinGet configuration file.

[10:10] Desired state configuration.

[10:47] How do we generate these files?

[12:26] Using Dev Home to simplify cloning and configuring repositories.

[14:22] DSC can toggle Windows settings as well.

[16:26] What is Dev Drive?

[20:36] How run environments help bring your Cloud and remote environments into a centralized place.

[23:09] The most popular power toys.

[26:07] Windows subsystem for Linux.

[31:00] What’s the next power toy?

[35:18] Ways for people to learn more.

Mentioned in this Episode:

Clear Measure Way

Architect Forum

Software Engineer Forum

Programming with Palermo — New Video Podcast! Email us at programming@palermo.net.

Clear Measure, Inc. (Sponsor)

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

Jeffrey Palermo’s Twitter — Follow to stay informed about future events!

Ep 54 with Kayla Cinnamon and Rich Turner

Kayla Cinnamon

GitHub Kayla Cinnamon

Kayla on X

Kayla on LinkedIn

Developer Experience improvements in Windows

Windows Terminal

Github Microsoft Cascadia

Microsoft PowerToys

Want to Learn More?

Visit AzureDevOps.Show for show notes and additional episodes.