WINE Will it ever support all apps?

[mech7]

Do you think WINE will ever support all windows apps without any bugs? I heared the project has been under development for about 15 years, and that it will take at least 2 million dollars to keep up with current windows version?

I don't know if that is true but it makes me wonder if all windows apps will ever be able to run bug free on linux :) then there would really be no need anymore for running windows.

[jrusso2]

Windows api is constantly changing. WINE has been a beta for a good ten years now.

[G Morgan]

Windows doesn't support all Windows apps without any bugs. What we can do is approach their levels of compatibility, maybe even surpass them with bottling.

[earobinson]

Wine will get better and better but even different windows boxes will have problems with some apps for some reason.

[Steve H]

I guess the problem is one of moving goalposts. Not only do software publishers change the way the write & handle code, but also with new revisions of M$ windows coming out every so often, then the API obviously changes as well. If we could just convince Mr.Gates to stop changing things we might have a chance to use WINE to "catch up".

[Dragonbite]

WINE I don't think will ever work all of the time (heck Windows doesn't run all Windows programs ;) ).

I think the future will be like a mini-virtualization.

When you go to run an app it opens up a miniature virtualization in the background. You wouldn't see the desktop of the virtualized OS and you cannot get to it. The whole window is tied to the application running so you hit the "X" and it closes the whole thing, not just the app in the virtual machine.

Or you can think of it as the same way Java runs in the Java Virtual Machine and VB.NET/C# runs on the .NET platforms, all programs will be made to easily run on a virtual machine with whole/part of an actual OS.

That's my 5-10 year prediction.

(you heard it here first!)

[frodon]

I think this is not the real question, i would better ask : for how long time will wine still be helpful ?

The goal IMO is not to make wine perfect but more to make software developpers aware about the linux world growing needs so they they will see their own interest in making their apps available for linux as well.
Wine is a really useful tool till we reach this step.

On the other hand i find wine really powerful especially when counter strike source is running smoothly without any bug/lag on my computer.

[forrestcupp]

Maybe Linux will become more popular before wine could ever get that far. It may not be greatly significant, but Vista is causing a stirring. If Linux becomes more popular, maybe developers will be more likely to lend us an ear. I know a lot of people who are migrating to Mac. I've found out a lot of those people haven't even heard of Linux. Maybe this Dell ordeal will help things out. If it works for Dell, maybe others will follow suite, and we won't end up needing wine as much.