I wonder if something like this might make a comeback for workers that are blocked from using wsl/hyperv on their corporate laptops. For me I've been using msys2 as an "alternative" since I'm unable to use wsl. It's not the same but it's all I got.
I use WSL1 on my work PC everyday, because I can't run HyperV. I don't have a GUI, but a coworker said he was able to get VNC running on WSL1 and was able to VNC into it from his Windows environment.
At work when I work on Windows (currently stuck using Mac for the first time in my career at work), but on Windows I would use https://gitforwindows.org/ which also uses msys2 and that is a very popularly supported free product using msys2 on Windows. If you ever forget the URL, search for "git bash for windows".
