How good is WINE?

[roxics]

Is it ready for primetime as they say, or is there still a lot of work that needs to be done on it?

If so will it ever be good enough for 99%+ of the windows software out there? If so, what do you think the timeframe is for this?

Will it ever be integrated into common distros as just another part of the OS so that people can run windows or linux software without even really thinking about it?

I admit even though I've read about it a while ago, I still have a hard time shaking the concept that it's not an emulator and that windows software is going to run really slow and unreliable on it. I still have yet to use it.

Also... what exactly is the difference between WINE and crossover office?

Oh and one last question, is there any attempted to do a WINE sort of thing for MAC OS software now that they have their universal applications?

[aysiu]

Wine is good for a lot of Windows applications but nowhere near 99%.

I'd say as a general rule if it can run in Windows 98, it will probably run in Wine. A few applications that require Windows 2000 or XP can also run in Wine, but most of those need Crossover Office.

[Kilz]

Is it ready for primetime as they say, or is there still a lot of work that needs to be done on it?

If so will it ever be good enough for 99%+ of the windows software out there? If so, what do you think the timeframe is for this?

Will it ever be integrated into common distros as just another part of the OS so that people can run windows or linux software without even really thinking about it?

I admit even though I've read about it a while ago, I still have a hard time shaking the concept that it's not an emulator and that windows software is going to run really slow and unreliable on it. I still have yet to use it.

Also... what exactly is the difference between WINE and crossover office?

Oh and one last question, is there any attempted to do a WINE sort of thing for MAC OS software now that they have their universal applications?
Wine isn't perfect. It is still considered Beta software, the version is still below 1.0. It will never run 99% of the windows software with ease because Windows is a proprietary OS and Wine developers do not have access to the code.
I don't think it will be integrated, you are better off finding Linux applications that offer the same functionality. That said if you need one or 2 applications you cant find the functionality it at least gives you the ability to run the windoz program while you look for a Linux application.
Wine is the free version, Crossover office is the paid version. Crossover runs more windowz applications because it is a commercial product. Support is available for crossover in case you need it. Wine is a self support free program, if you are having problems, google it or read the manual is what you will most likely be told.
I'm sure there is a MAC emulator, but I don't know much about them. A google search brought up quite a few . (http://www.google.com/search?q=mac+emulator&hl=en&hs=FkJ&lr=&client=firefox-a&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&pwst=1&start=10&sa=N)

[KimEmbers]

Hi roxics, Im pretty new to Linux but I have used wine a little. Despite the great effort the developers of wine have done, it does not support all Windows aplications and it never will, at least Ithink that way. But wine is a great app anyway.


windows software is going to run really slow

The software I ran on wine does normal, you should go to Wine HQ to see if the software you are trying to use is suppoerted. Go to http://appdb.winehq.org/


Also... what exactly is the difference between WINE and crossover office?

Well, you have to pay for CrossOver Office, for wine you dont. Crossover is focused towards entrprise apps such as compatibility with MS Office for example, wine supports an array of apps.

As for wine emulating Mac OS in the future I cant tell...

Bye

[kripkenstein]

You can't really rely on WINE to be 100%, I don't think. But it does run a lot of stuff 'fairly' well. I use WINE with IE6 to test websites, but sadly I sometimes still need to boot into Windows.

Windows software does NOT necessarily run slowly on it... actually some software runs faster. This shouldn't be surprising, since Wine Is Not an Emulator. Sometimes the WINE people's code is better than Microsoft, and sometimes vice versa.

Wine is free software. Crossover office is proprietary, and runs MS Office better. Cedega is proprietary, and runs Windows games better.

Mac users have Darwine (http://darwine.opendarwin.org/).

[rcarring]

I would concur with aysiu. Assume wine can pretend to be win98 and work on from there.

[Adamant1988]

WINE handles things *decently* but it's been my experience that even if an app is reported as working in the DB that does not mean it is going to work for you..

I would say the only real way to get 99% of programs (or something close to that number working) is emulation, I hear that win4lin runs at decent speeds...

[PatrickMay16]

It doesn't run everything, but it runs a good amount of stuff very well. I'm able to play old games like Unreal using wine, just as it would run in windows.

[richbarna]

I have tried wine and to be honest I am not that impressed, but I must admit that I was trying to run xp programs, not win98.
Also, the programs I tried to run needed to connect to the internet or usb hardware.
For example, transferring video from a usb connected video camera.
To be honest, if it's absolutely necessary for people to use an xp program, I don't see why they don't allow 10Gig for a dual boot, but use Linux for everything else. It's what I'm currently thinking of doing just to get the camera working with the original Sony software.

[Mathias-K]

Out of the box, WINE is not really that great. I have yet to run a game or a bigger program flawlessly.

[roxics]

Thanks for your replies guys. Yeah unfortunately the programs I want to run are XP programs. Photoshop CS, iTunes and Sony Vegas are my most desired. And while there are programs on linux that can do similar things they aren't really good enough to be honest. Too bad more software companies are't porting their software. How much work would it really take for them to do that? Seems to me they would make more money if they did. Or do they have a skewed view of Linux users as pirates?

[facefur]

WINE is OK for programs that use mainstream .dll's but for software that is tightly integrated into the Windos environment probably will never work well.

It would be nice if software creators could simply port over to Linux, but reality dictates that software developers who are versed in the com/dcom/.net programming environment cannot easily convert to Linux. It can be done, but it takes work, and without a significant market, companies won't invest their tiem or money into conversion.