Wine and OS X

[unkemptwolf]

Alright, so we all know that Wine/Crossover/Cedega (hereafter referred to as "wine") does not run on OS X due to the fact that it (OS X) runs on PowerPC and not x86. There have been some efforts to get it to run anyway (http://apple.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=04/01/28/1739236&tid=179&tid=125&tid=3), but I'm not under the impression that these have been very successful. With Apples upcoming move to Intel x86 chips (http://apple.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=05/06/06/1752234&tid=118&tid=179&tid=3), do you think we will begin seeing OS X as one of the distros listed on the wine download page? Would it be hard to port it, seeing as how both OS X and Linux are *nix systems? Could a complete version of Wine finally give OS X the edge it needs to get a significant market share? Do you think Apple might actively begin contributing code to the project, since this would be a major opportunity for them? Is this too many questions? Discuss.

[xequence]

I doubt apple will play any part in WINE developing.

Though I guess atleast someone would try to port wine over to OSX when they go x86.

[atoponce]

Could a complete version of Wine finally give OS X the edge it needs to get a significant market share?

No, for a couple of reasons.

First, Apple uses proprietary software. Sure, under the hood, Darwin is open source, but the interface, plus a number of software titles aren't, and they prefer it that way. For the open source software that they do use, such as the KHTML rendering engine or BSD, they do not like to share the code that they improve. The closed source paradigm still exists in large at Apple.

Second, Apple uses proprietary hardware. Intdustry standards in the PC market are what is keeping the average PC a success. When my motherboard fails, or I need a new AGP card, or I need to install fans, or add a power supply, etc., etc., etc., it is nice to know that I can go to any PC supply shop, and find what I need with competitive prices. Upgrading is fairly striaght forward. Rather than going to an authorized Apple dealer to pay premium prices for a small selection for an even smaller hardware-supported list.

Finally, as solid as Wine is, it is nothing compared to running the program natively on Windows. Most Linux users realize this. Wine does have a very niche crowd of followers, but most are highly experienced geeks, and not your average user. Your average user is who will make or break Mac OS X, or any OS for that matter.

Don't get me wrong- Mac OS X is sweet. By far the sexiest OS out there. But it's their mental attitudes, and they way they conduct business that will keep them from gaining any serious ground in market share. Sun Microsystems realized this, and has since changed their game plan, which has helped them immensely!

[Qrk]

Besides, Apple already has Microsoft virtual PC on OS X. Its $120, but Apple users don't have the same qualms about paying for software that Linux users do.