“A company called CodeWeavers is using an open-source technology called Wine to allow some Windows programs to run under Mac OS X,” Ina Fried reports for CNET News.
Fried reports, “CodeWeavers is in early testing with CrossOver Office for Mac now and plans to release a final version of the software in July or August.”
“White said CrossOver Office has one big advantage over those other options: Using it doesn’t require the purchase of a copy of Windows. However, it also has significant downsides. Its focus is on application compatibility, not device drivers, so things like printers don’t work with the Windows applications,” Fried reports. “Also, Wine is a compatibility layer, not a true emulator, so it works with only some Windows programs.”
“While many Windows programs may work with the Mac version of CrossOver Office, CodeWeavers will support only a handful. These will likely include Microsoft Project, Microsoft Outlook and the Windows-only game ‘Half-Life 2,’ White said,” Fried reports.
“White said he has some hope that, despite the competition, Mac users will prove less tightfisted than Linux users. Many of these have been reluctant to pay for the CrossOver product, when the technology is also available free in the open-source world. ‘Parting with money is just not part of the Linux way,’ White said. Plus, there are a lot of Mac users out there. ‘There are far more Mac users than there are Linux, at least in North America on the desktop,’ White said.”
Full article with links and more here.
MacDailyNews Take: Microsoft would have a cow (they’d finally “deliver Longhorn” – literally) if this Windows apps without Windows really worked for a wide range of applications. If Apple themselves ever did anything like this in a future Mac OS X, the OS war to end all OS wars would erupt, but it’d be difficult to imagine how Apple do anything but win in spectacular fashion.
Some say that Apple have to have an Office replacement prepped, tested, and ready to go. Maybe virtualization is the way to go; it works well enough (you can always boot straight into Windows when you need top speed) and it’ll take share from Microsoft through millions of tiny bites. Why provoke the bloated behemoth by dropping a Wine-soaked hydrogen bomb directly on Redmond when you can accomplish the same thing over time with millions of smaller virtualized explosions? Unless, you don’t fear retaliation because your OS can already run existing versions of Office for Mac and the Windows version of their Office suite, of course.
Remember: Microsoft is shackled to “backwards compatibility.” They can’t change things very much or very quickly. Older versions of Office that are still in use in millions and millions of businesses and homes must be able to open documents produced by the latest version of Office or they’ll lose their competitive advantage.
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Umm….will this work on a PPC mac? (crosses fingers)
>> Umm….will this work on a PPC mac? (crosses fingers)
No, you need Virtual PC for that. I use it on my Powerbook when necessary, it’s slow but it works. Wine and the Windows binaries are compiled for Intel, so the machine CPU (real or virtual) needs to provide the Intel instruction set.
If you had a PPC Mac and a copy of Virtual PC w/o Windows, you could install an Intel Linux distro and run CrossOver in the VM, but that would be taking Windows avoidance to the point of masochism.
Pete, you really are a huge idiot. Well no, actually, I think you’re just a troll.
I work for a Mac reseller, and we haven’t had a single Macbook returned. The heat “issues” on both the Macbook and the Pro are a joke. My PB G4 gt hotter. Of course, it’s just people like you who like to make a lot of noise to pretend it’s somehow really BAAAD.
After looking at the pics on the discoloration website, I have to wonder about the eyesight of many of the “victims”, as they certainly can’t take any decently lit sharp photos. Mostly just very grainy pictures of handrests that looked to have greasy mit-staines on them.
But hey, keep on trolling. Otherwise we’d not have much to talk about.
Interesting that when you visit Phil Swann’s website, a small (16KB) file called “xply.wmf” is automatically downloaded. This file is infected with the “Exploit.WMF.A” virus.
Be careful.
Many people do have secretions that will stain some plastics. Not everybody does, and I don’t know how many percentagewise do, but many do. Go to the Macintosh ibook forums and read all the posts from people that complain that their ibook gets dark and grungy where their hands touch them. There are countless threads there recommending various cleaners (mainly Mr. Clean Magic Eraser) for cleaning them. It seems that the majority of people do not have these body secretions but some do.
At my work place I can always tell who last used certain peices of equipment simply by how slimey/grungy it feels when I use it. Most of the employees don’t do this to the equipment but some of them do it without fail. Maybe it is caused by the foods they eat or maybe it is just something about their genetic makeup but it appears to be a fact of life.
I once commented that perhaps washing your hands more frequently would cure the problem if things you touch get grimey. A returned comment was “you can’t help but get things you touch dirty after reading newspapers and getting the ink on your hands.” Well, I don’t get the ink on my hands when I read a paper. Again, I think this is due to secretions that cause some folks to dissolve the inks, thus getting it on their hands, while it is not an issue for most folks.
From TFA If Apple themselves ever did anything like this in a future Mac OS X, the OS war to end all OS wars would erupt, but it’d be difficult to imagine how Apple do anything but win in spectacular fashion
Regardless of the outcome of such a “war” MDN would claim OS X winner