If Wine were perfect, how many applications would you run with it?

[YokoZar]

I'm doing a bit of theoretical research on what Wine users might look like in the future. So, imagine for a moment, that we're in that future and Wine works with all apps perfectly - which applications would you actually use it for?

[asdfoo]

Wine works very well for my current needs, so long as I compromise when it comes to popular games like Left4Dead, I have to use low graphics settings for it to achieve a playable framerate, but hopefully that will be sorted out in the future by the people who work on d3d in Wine.

[aaronb]

Same here, wine has made a lot of progress recently (last 18 months) to the point where I have removed Windows and now using wine for my games.

[Bios Element]

I already run 9 or more programs but if it worked perfect I'd probably run about the same number as now.

[aysiu]

I don't use Windows applications, so 0.

[cogadh]

9+ apps, all of them games. Linux native apps work fine for everything else.

[mithbuntu]

My games.

I'm also still having trouble with Adobe CS3 products. I wish I could use my dreamweaver in linux :|

[krendar]

Only one. World of Warcraft. It it almost there actually. Only thing needed to do is setting it to run via OpenGL and tweak the sound-settings a bit to avoid stuttering sound.

There might be more games down the road I would eventually emulate in a "perfect Wine" though.

All other things I need to do is well served in Linux.

edit: almost forgot. Ventrilo. It is still bugging me a bit running Ventrilo sound and WoW sound simultaneously. If that worked flawless I would be happy.

[hikaricore]

Only one. World of Warcraft. It it almost there actually. Only thing needed to do is setting it to run via OpenGL and tweak the sound-settings a bit to avoid stuttering sound.

There might be more games down the road I would eventually emulate in a "perfect Wine" though.

All other things I need to do is well served in Linux.

edit: almost forgot. Ventrilo. It is still bugging me a bit running Ventrilo sound and WoW sound simultaneously. If that worked flawless I would be happy.

WoW has worked flawlessly for years now... and it has an OpenGL mode.
Your sound problems are a limitation of your hardware in all likelihood.

[Fenris_rising]

Only one for me. Google Sketchup if it worked with it :) For gaming I use my Xbox.

regards

Fenris

[ajackson]

Only a couple (both games) and maybe the occasional use of IE when having to use a web site that just doesn't get on with anything that isn't IE (normally I would just find an alternative but there are a couple of sites that I can't avoid having to use).

[Clopin]

WoW has worked flawlessly for years now... and it has an OpenGL mode.
Your sound problems are a limitation of your hardware in all likelihood.

I'm still having a few problems with WoW (freezing & rebooting randomly).
But if Wine were perfect, I'd use it for all my "old" windows applications, mainly games.

[Vaedrah]

I agree, Wine has improved a lot recently!

I have no interest in games and although many people seem to associate Wine with games (presumably Windows makes better games?) there are some Windows applications that have no real equivalent in Linux. These applications (that I use, sometimes they are "reasonable" in Wine)

1. MathCAD - This is not "MATLAB" instead it is a document editor with a math core (Maple) designed for educational and scientific purposes. Unfortunately I haven't yet got Work/Works equations to display in it under Wine.

2. MicroCap - this seems to run OK so far in Wine. There are some Linux circuit analysis programs but they suffer from inadequate user interface information or lack (or do not make the use of these functions adequate) frequency domain, time domain, DC analysis and Fourier (spectrum) analysis in a well presented UI.

3. MATLAB - despite its script based (not object oriented) structure I have yet to try this under Wine. Octave is similar but lacks DSP packages and this reduces its usefulness. I could get a Uni license for MATLAB to overcome this but would it run under Wine? I doubt that Octave / Linux would make use of the license toolboxes. "Or" if it "can", I fully expect this to be a mission.

4. MS Works - I like MS Draw for simple diagrams and this integrates well into MW Word and MathCAD. It doesn't yet run under Wine with Winetricks addons

5. MS Word - Open Office is often offered as a substitute but this has horrible equation editors (i.e. I don't like them at all). LaTex seems like a better package for both and I am looking into this. However MS Word is good for what it does except that equations do crash the program from time to time (any PC/version has this bug as anyone that uses many equations will testify I guess!)

6. MS Frontpage - I like Frontpage to designing Webs. I have seem some Linux alternatives bu they are weak and poorly structured. ALthough perhaps some could be "opened up" the same argument for "feature accessibility" remains, programs are for our use not to waste our time searching for poorly presented features. Frontpage does what it does without and special tricks. (ALthough later versions seem to have missed the plot a bit). I migt try Dreamweaver later on Wine but I don't have a long term license for Dreamweaver.

7. Web Browsers - I tried Safari on Wine - it didn't work. I also tried Chrome - it just hangs.

8. DVD Magic Ripper - this works well on XP using VirtualBox on Ubuntu as a host. It doesn't run on Wine as yet and needs a forced quit.Magic DVD Ripper is excellent for making AVI files from DVDs and although some Linux apps can convert DVDs I prefer AVI format (for disk space) and 2:1 compression isn't adequate. Perhaps some Linux apps are out there but again, I don't like wasting time search for potentially disappointing offerings. I note that people often make unsupported claims of Linux equivalents but don't always follow this up with details needed to find these alternatives or miss the issues involved in determining an alternative's suitability. Still, I may be wrong.

9. Streamer - actually this works under Wine but has problems with the Uni's proxy/firewall. I would certainly use Streamer on Wine given different Internet access.

10. DivX - I have had this running but haven't checked that it works properly as yet

11. Windows Media Player - Limited success so far on Wine. Media Player is quite nice to use but I haven't got the radio to work yet

Summary
I could go on; I like Linux Ubuntu and don't mind Windows. I see they both have good application; I don't however see that a "all or nothing" conflict makes any sense between the two OS' - or others!

The preferable approach would be for software developers to make their products OS independent (does Python aim this way?) Failing this, Wine is doing a great job bridging the gap. Also Virtual Machines further resolve silly interoperability issues. The idea of choosing between multiple OS's is a bit like choosing between apples, pears and oranges; they are all good and selecting favorites is unmotivated.

[eragon100]

Games, games, and more games!

To the poster above me:

Matlab has a linux version, here are the sys. requirements:

http://www.mathworks.com/support/sysreq/current_release/linux.html

[hikaricore]

Some of you are a little off topic here.
Stating problems that are limited to the minority of people such as issues with a certain applications
like WoW for example, do not in any way change the fact that said applications do work almost flawlessly
for the great majority of WINE users. Lets not turn this into a support thread if we can help it
and provide the info the OP is seeking.

Thanks,

--Aaron

[ninjapirate89]

Only one: Zune software....too bad WINE will never be that perfect :(

[lethalfang]

3. MATLAB - despite its script based (not object oriented) structure I have yet to try this under Wine. Octave is similar but lacks DSP packages and this reduces its usefulness. I could get a Uni license for MATLAB to overcome this but would it run under Wine? I doubt that Octave / Linux would make use of the license toolboxes. "Or" if it "can", I fully expect this to be a mission.



MATLAB has a Linux/UNIX version.
For me, the only application I really want is the Citi's virtual credit card number generator. It makes my online purchases so much easier.

[doas777]

i guess i would run as many as I need. i support open solutions, so I would try to minimize them. if it did work though, I could finally get rid of windows for games and win development.

[R33D3M33R]

I would run 9+ applications - only games. I have no need for windows programs.

[jnewl]

9+ Windows games plus maybe your random utility here and there that has no Linux equivalent. As far as business and productivity apps go: zero. Ubuntu provides all I need, even for some relatively esoteric stuff.

[rJ~]

Most likely just more games. Everything else I run on a daily basis is covered by cross platform software or Linux alternatives.

Maybe some video editing software, but it's been a while since I last checked up on what's available for Linux in that category.

[Seventh Reign]

I'd love to be able to run Paint Shop Pro X/X2 w/o loading Virtualbox.

[golusweet]

Yahoo messenger.

[Sprut1]

I voted 3, 3+. I'd like to play a few Windows games :)

[Melcar]

I rarely use Wine for games anymore; the only ones I play are older titles like Fallout and Baldur's Gate which work fine. Most games I play are either cross platform or Linux native games. My main use for Wine is running typical non-gaming Windows applications (office applications mostly).
My reasons for not buying Windows games and/or running them under Wine is mostly philosophical. However, I do believe that Wine is a great application that can facilitate one's work when it comes to Windows/Linux compatibility in a fast and simple way without the need of setting up a full blown virtual machine. If it were perfect I would run all my current Windows games (no reason to have them gather dust on my desk), but I would mostly use it to run the odd productivity application that comes my way either from work or school.

[Grez]

Serif PagePlus
Serif PhotoPlus
Autodesk AutoSketch


Please!

[Shpongle]

id use reason and fl studio and sony sound forge - all audio editing apps
also id run some games too!. id love to see the day where these apps work properly under wine ,

[TheBuzzSaw]

Yikes! This question is over the top! If WINE were "perfect", I would never touch Windows again!

Curse my obsession with PC gaming...

[lisati]

I'd probably go for 2 or so, for a handful of Windows Video Editing/DVD authoring tools that I haven't yet found a suitable Linux-friendly substitute for.

[SuperSonic4]

Microsoft Word 07 and Excel 07 so 2

maybe wlm for faster file transfers

[mithbuntu]

Sorry, I forgot I'd also use all my CS collection. I still can't get them to run. About to try vm ware instead ={.

[Mokoma]

wine will never be perfect. theres to much unreleased code for things like directx etc....

BUT it has evolved so much since the gutsy days its unreal

[lavinog]

It would be few.
-Quickbooks (One of the only reasons that we are not 100% linux at work)
-AutoDesk Design Review (for viewing DWF files since there is no linux alternative)
-7-zip (I like the UI better...works great currently)
-Netflix on-demand (although moonlight should be addressing this soon)
-Sony Vegas Video (actually haven't tested this recently, but it didn't work in the past)
-Master of Orion 2 (old win95 game)

I would never expect many games to be all that great on wine, due to video driver performance issues.

I think that is it for me...The first two are the most important since they are required for work, and I don't have an option to switch them.

[Chemical Imbalance]

9 +

Games, games, and more........games.

[ashfallen0]

Games, obviously. But Solidworks, AutoDesk...

My hope is that one day new game software starts being developed specifically for linux, by the programmers, not by the community.

[3Miro]

Many games. Everything else that I need is already implemented as native for Linux.

Someone mentioned Matlab, there is a Linux version of Matlab and as far I can recall there has always been one. No need to wine that one.

For formulas - LaTeX is the way to go (MS Word is too cumbersome and can only be use for very small things, in which case Open Office works just as fine). LaTeX works better under Linux.

I guess my wife uses Access, but that is only because the database is already in Access. Everything that Access can do, can be done by OO.

[emshains]

Games. And lots of them.

[Trespasser]

As of now I'm running PySolFC (Windows version) under Wine. My wife loves it.

My wife also loves Vista's Solitaire, Spider Solitaire, and Mahjong. There's a hacked version of those that work under XP but I've never been able to get them to execute/run under Wine...and I've tried on numerous occasions. The standard Vista versions will not work either. Hopefully someday that will change.

Wine has progressed quite a bit since the first time I used it back in 2005. Another big help for Wine's usability has been the introduction of Winetricks and Wine-Doors.

Later...

[u235sentinel]

I already run 9 or more programs but if it worked perfect I'd probably run about the same number as now.

I'm using over two dozen Windows games under Wine. Had some issues with 1.0.1 and was messing with upgrading to 1.1.15. CSS and TF2 are the only two with issues so far. Getting a "Sending client info to server" message and it stays there forever. Sometimes it works after restarting the client a few times. Might upgrade to 1.1.16 and see if that fixes it. Could go to 1.1.19 but I like to stay behind a little :D

Otherwise it's just fine. Haven't had Windblows on my computer for over a year.

[cmay]

i voted 0.
i have no need for anything else than what i can get from a .deb in synaptic. also i never use wine even that i did the very first few weeks of using linux. which is about four or five years ago.

[gjoellee]

KDE and Mozilla gives me all I need! So the answer is 0.