Ubuntu will soon be available for ARM64-powered Windows devices, a year after being made available for x64 devices in the Microsoft Store
It was this time last year that Microsoft announced that it was bringing Ubuntu to the Windows Store (now the Microsoft Store), along with other Linux distributions.
Context & Ripple Effects
Ubuntu first landed in the Windows Store in July 2017 as a sandboxed environment aimed at command-line utilities like bash and SSH (initially x64-only). Months later, Microsoft began accepting 64-bit ARM apps into the Store and updated Visual Studio so Win32 apps could be recompiled to run natively on ARM (the ARM64 app pipeline).
Extending Ubuntu to ARM64 devices closes the loop between those two moves: the Linux distribution that anchored Microsoft's Store-based Linux push can now target the same ARM hardware that the recompiled-app effort was building toward, on top of an emulation strategy Microsoft had been planning since its x86 emulation roadmap for ARM64 surfaced in 2016.
First-order effects
- Developers on ARM64-powered Windows devices gain direct Store access to Ubuntu, removing the need to stay on x64 hardware to use the distribution's command-line tooling.
- Microsoft's Windows-as-a-Linux-platform play now spans both major PC architectures, making the ARM device category more credible for the developer audience the 2017 Store launch targeted.
Second-order effects
- The move adds a marquee name to the ARM64 app catalog Microsoft opened in late 2018, giving OEMs shipping ARM Windows devices a stronger software story against the x64 installed base.
- As more developer tooling reaches ARM64 natively, the practical penalty for choosing ARM hardware over x64 shrinks, shifting purchase decisions toward battery-and-form-factor criteria.
Third-order effects
- If the pattern holds — native ARM64 apps plus emulation plus Linux distributions on one platform — the historical software gap between ARM and x64 Windows narrows enough that architecture becomes a purchasing detail rather than a compatibility decision.
- A Windows platform where Linux tooling is a first-class Store download further blurs the line between the two ecosystems, positioning Microsoft as a host for workloads that once required a separate Linux machine.
The trend: Windows on ARM is steadily closing its software gap with x64 by stacking native ARM64 apps, emulation, and mainstream Linux distributions onto a single platform.