- A new concept for a Linux distro was recently aired
- Loss32 aims to be the Windows desktop sat atop the Linux kernel
- It’ll work via WINE, which is a runtime environment for using Windows apps natively on Linux – but there’s a long road ahead yet
Some Windows 10 users are already making the leap to Linux – perhaps because their PCs can’t run Windows 11 – and a new project may spark further enthusiasm for the alternative OS (as SteamOS has certainly already done on the gaming front).
The Register reports that a new Linux distro has a very bold idea, in that it’s not just aiming to be Windows-like as some distributions do, but to actually be the Windows desktop environment running on top of the core of Linux.
It’s called Loss32 (a pun on the ‘Win32’ API) and it’s the brainchild of a Japanese developer, Hikari no Yume, who put forward the idea at the 39th Chaos Communication Congress (in Germany at the end of last year).
The central concept is described by the developer as follows: “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.”
What you’ll essentially have is a Windows interface running via WINE (not the alcoholic drink, but a runtime environment for running Windows apps natively on Linux) sat on top of the Linux kernel.
This is markedly different from current Linux efforts on the Windows front, which include Linux distros that are capable of running Windows apps – it goes much further. Ultimately, Loss32 is the whole kaboodle of Windows – File Explorer and so forth – sat on top of Linux.
It’s also distinct to ReactOS, although this is a similar idea in terms of being ‘Windows without Microsoft’. However, the developer notes: “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).”
The developer has promised that an initial proof-of-concept for the distro will arrive at some point in January 2026, so in the next few weeks, but obviously there’s a long road ahead from there to any possible fruition for this project.
Analysis: lossy impression
In short, Loss32 would be just like using a Windows PC, except you’d actually be running a Linux distro (underneath, though you wouldn’t know that – well, hopefully, and I’ll come back to that point in a moment).
In theory, that would mean Windows without any of the Microsoft nonsense such as telemetry (data on your system being piped back to the company’s servers), nag screens and so on. And given that Loss32 is still actually Linux, you could run Linux apps on this OS if you wanted, as well.
Of course, it’s not quite as simple as that (it never is). The trouble is that the actual implementation of Windows elements could be flaky running via WINE, and glitchy or sluggish. As the developer acknowledges, it has a “lot of unfortunate rough edges that people only tolerate because they use WINE as a last resort”.
Although of course, some folks will point out that Microsoft’s native implementation of the interface in Windows 11 is flaky anyway, and in some ways, they have a very good point (cough, File Explorer, cough).
At any rate, there would be a lot to hammer out with this project to say the least, and as for the potential arrival timeframe for a finished distro, the developer’s curt comment is: “God only knows.” However, the hope is that the development of Loss32 itself, 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”.
Loss32 is more of a distant curiosity than anything else for now. But the fundamental idea – and the gathering momentum behind Linux, driven of late by SteamOS, Proton, and Valve’s Steam Deck (plus other handhelds) and the incoming Steam Machine – is perhaps another seed being planted for the great Linux uprising.
Talk of the Linux revolution has been going on seemingly forever, though, inevitably leading to skepticism about whether we’ll ever witness such an event. However, given the hostility towards Windows 11 currently – and the venomous potshots being taken at Microsoft due to its unrelenting push for more AI, including the trending barb that is ‘Microslop’ – it feels like Linux increasingly has an opportunity to mount a meaningful challenge to the dominant desktop OS.
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