CodeWeavers has released CrossOver Mac 6.0 Beta 3 which will allows Mac users to install and run Windows programs as though they were native, all without having to buy or run a copy of Windows itself.
CrossOver Mac specific changes:
• Improved CD-handling: Now CrossOver should be able to detect and interact with all removable volumes and dynamically assign drive letters to then. The ‘eject’ button should work better as well. All in all, multi-CD installs should work much better. Rearranged the panels in the Bottle Manager; added a bottle description field.
• Changed the GUI feedback during the deletion of a bottle.
• Fixed icons in the control-panel.
• Improved locale support — now the Windows locale should match the OS X locale.
• Fixed a few keymapping problems. Shift-arrow selection should now work properly, and non-US keyboards may work better.
• Added default association handling so that .pdfs and such are passed to the system for opening.
• Fixed an occasional crash in Half-Life.
• Redesign of menu and Applications/CrossOver handling.
• Menus should now vanish when applications are removed.
• Added the first part of a User Guide.
• Partial redesign of the Bottle Manager dialog
General CrossOver fixes and improvements:
• Fixed network play in Half-Life 1.
• Fixed a bug with window sizing in Quicken
• Fixed problems with some Quicken versions that cause windows to become non-responsive.
• Fixed several issues with the connection between Outlook and Exchange.
• Office 2003 service packs can now be installed.
• Slipstream editions of Office 2003 can now be installed.
• Fixed popup menus in Photoshop
More info and download link here.
Related article:
CodeWeavers brings low-cost way of running Windows apps on Mac OS X sans Windows – August 14, 2006
Seems like an app like this would be ideal, but there seem too many things that could go wrong… It just seems to me if Windows is not running, but the software requires it, there’s going to be problems.
I’ve never used this, so I am just speculating…
I’d love to see AAPL make good use of the WINE project and offer a solution that doesn’t use Windblows.
Too bad the Codeweavers product is limited and buggy as all hell.
I can’t speak for Crossover on a Mac (my MacBook is scheduled to arrive on Thursday), but it works reasonably well under Linux. Crossover targets certain Windows applications and tunes their software to work with it. In recent versions, Crossover is actually pretty good at running even “unsupported” Windows applications. It will be interesting to see if the Mac version performs as well as the Linux version.
Hurry to CodeWeavers!!!
Watch out! The Redmond Devil may gobble you up!
New iPod video – tomorrow! No word on specs other than — Zune 3″ meet 3.2″ 640i LCD.
tomorrow, tomorrow!
I tried codeweavers and it is lousy. Now I have parallels with win xp pro. Although I would rather be working in OS X, the parallels solution works great. Unfortunately I have some apps for school that are win only.
Did you guys know that you can bittorrent Windows XP Pro? That would be nice if I didn’t have to pay for that piece of hud.
I’ve used one of the early betas on a Mac Pro. Only downloaded a windows version of Firefox and it worked perfectly.
That post abose has to be BS, I’m 15 minutes away from cupertino and it’s 3:05 PM here. They must be on the east coast or sumthin……
Help me out here people…
Ever since the announcement of Apple switching to Intel I’ve been posting that this is the ultimate solution and will eventually be offered by Apple. The idea is that, IF there is an Windoze only application that is mission critical for your business or whatever, A product like this will allow you to run that App WITHOUT having to maintain a Windoze install.
Here’s where I’m lost. Why would the majority of the Apps on their site listed as ported or desired – be Applications that are readily available for the Mac (and better versions at that!). Why in the world would you want to run Office, CS2, Acrobat, or iTunes (FREAKING ITUNES!) emulated in Windoze? Theres no freaking point! The critical stuff that would actually make this useful are pathetically supported, IE6 (halfway), IE7 (known not to work), Autocad (untested). AutoCAD UNTESTED!! In this and any other forum that’s probably the single most mentioned application that people want and no one’s even attempted to see if it works? WTF?!?!
As I said, this category is the holy grail of software and needs a kick in the seat to get moving. I’ll bet that Apple has a product like this running in their secret labs at near perfection. If they don’t, they should buy out this endeavor and do it right. We’re so close. I would NOT be surprised if this is one of the “secret” Leopard features Apple isn’t disclosing yet.
Just tried this beta with an old copy of Office 97. Works great!. Just watching it install on my iMac without Windoze was downright creepy.
I have been using crossover for over a month with picasa and hello (both google products) and have had no problems
Windoze Killer –
Since the Mac version is in beta, most if not all of the apps tested are tested for the Linux version – a place where 1) many of the apps that you list have Mac versions but not Linux versions – Office and iTunes are much desired for Linux and 2) programs like AutoCAD maybe aren’t highly in demand in the Linux world.
Hopefully when the Mac version ships we can ask them for more support for those apps that don’t exist on the Mac and we would like. For example, I’m trying to get the Aircraft Owners and Pilot’s Associations’ (AOPA) Flight Planner working.
MDN Magic Word “club” – club me if I ever buy a windows machine
‘WindozeKiller’ is so right: Why is Codeweavers wasting Mac user’s time with ports of apps that are native on Mac? Hello!
“MDN Magic Word” is trade. Call your broker and tell her you want, no you need more AAPL!
Well, I’ve had to deal with Windows since version 2.0 at work but I’ve always been an Apple guy – from Apple II+ to iigs to Mac Performa on up. I’m a UNIX guy at work, mainly, but I have to deal more and more with Windows “solutions” that people keep trying to jam down my throat. It is nice to see a viable alternative to running that entire bloated piece of sludgeware that is Windows for some simple apps that you may be required to run.
FYI – I downloaded the last Beta and downloaded IE6 to run on my MacBook Pro in order to configure a router that wouldn’t answer to anything BUT IE (no, I couldn’t find anything about that on any of the docs until AFTER I opened the box!). Crossover Office worked great. I don’t care for IE but at least it worked well in this case.
The great things about Crossover Office are:
– No loading BloatWare Windows
– No attracting Viruses, Adware, or Spyware written for Windows
– No eating up my precious hard drive space with Bloatware Windows
– No monies spent to the Redmond Monopoly.
– No waiting for a reboot to launch a needed app.
For my purposes, just like WindozeKiller, this meets all of my needs. This is almost exactly the Silver Bullet I’ve been waiting for.
99.9% of all software I run (or more) is Mac Native. For that 1 in a 1,000 app that I may need, this is exactly the remedy.
Oh, and if you don’t like what’s been tested out for Crossover Office, they are always looking for folks to help out in that respect. If I had more free time, I’d probably be jumping on that myself.
_http://rapidshare.com/files/2739544/Parallels1970.rar
Can I ask that if anyone buys it (pre-release price is $39, down from $59 normal, plus longer support time and free upgrade), and their required app is already voted into the top 25, could they vote for ComicBase?
(The Codeweavers ComicBase link is here — App #1833.)
Thanks!
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