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My past experience is that the inherit problems with Windows makes it a less productive environment eventually.
Security problems, Corrupted irrecoverable files, viruses, trojans, worms, and a system that decays with time - becoming slower and slower. Pure paranoia.

In Linux, sure there will be a learning curve often a long one.
1 year (?) .. it all depends how persistant you are.
But after that - you just can't possibly go back to using just Windows.

Now if you work with Windows files (Corel Draw, Excel Macros) or even program for Windows like i do (Visual Studio, C#)
you can set an environment to make the best of both worlds.
I use CrossOver/ Wine (for the common MS apps), Win4Lin (for a cute embedded Win98) and Vmware (Windows XP).
This way I have what it's not granted to Windows users : much choice, security and flexibility.

Most of the time I am on Linux (95%) - as I have some bad memories of Windows, also find it very boring and featureless.
Take for example your Internet/File Browser.
Does it come with Newsfeed? A W3C Validator? And complete FTP capabilitities?
I can FTP to a site, open up a document, edit it and when I save it - it uploads the changes for me.
How convenient is that?
I can exchange documents between many FTP sites with much ease.
What about if I right click on a file I can navigate through a series of pop-up windows displaying directories so that eventually I can click "Copy Here" or "Move Here".
In Windows you have to either CTRL+C then fiddle your way through various folders and then CTRL+V
Or perhaps open two Windows and drag and drop between them? Kinda Clumsy.

So its like that - much power and a lot of flexibility.

Our version of "Notepad" is so powerful, it recognizes the syntax and highlights your code be it HTML, CSS or even C#.
If you are on KDE .. Kwrite allows for 80+ different language or script markups, with colour-highlight and silent error checking.
Not to mention the cascading indentation trees ..

Then you need Outlook to have Sticky notes.
Ours work independantly, and accepts Rich Text Formatting.

The convenience of Virtual Desktop can only lend to better productivity.

Sure you probably can (given the time and resources) download all these gimmicks and add-ons from freeware and shareware sites.
But God knows what you've installed with it as well.

Linux makes even Windows users more productive and they can use it for their advantage.

See it as a tool and powerful infrastructure enviroment, rather than abandoning Windows for good and joining a restrictive cult.

The possibilities are endless and I could go on and on ...

Linux is very stable, much faster, more secure
So don't just have Windows - have two operating systems (or more) in one.
If you truly care about productivity - of course.
(and security, and stability, and speed, and peace)

Forget Crossover unless you KNOW the "power user" apps needed by a user are supported. Crossover/WINE works on a very small subset of Windows apps.

Win4Lin uses an actual copy of Windows (the version supporting W2000 should be out by now) and russ just about anything that ran on Windows to begin with. Win4Lin made it possible for me to run Linux (there is no good solution for porting Eudora mailboxes and address books) and wait for the Open Source graphics apps to grow up to the usable point.

You are right in that it's the power Windows users who are going to have trouble... plus anyone who wants to send documents outside an organization that's switched.

Little differences become big ones when an outside client or editor is the one that is complaining about them.

I find Windows 98 running on Win4Lin so damn cute!

Well, I have to admit that after using Linux as my desktop for three years (and using Win4Lin), I had to switch back to Windows so that I could use Quicken, Palm Desktop, see all the multimedia that's out there on the web, and, yes, play games. But I use Linux on my home servers, and I'll bring up Linux apps using Cygwin's X server.

So I feel a little bit dirty, but not horribly dirty.

DT

The something is that Microsoft is the only target. While as described, only a drooling tard would pay twice as much for a Windows Media Center of inferior performance deliberately DRM broken with a G5 Mac pizzabox which Just Works as the other choice, I can think of a rapidly expanding niche market that this box would be ideally suited to attack.

The market is, of course, the Linux desktop for the non ubergeek user.

I've put the last year into learning the Linux desktop, and paid for it in part by writing Linux tutorials for publication. In part, I've been doing this because it looks like the market for people who know Linux is expanding rapidly in the places in the world I want to go. (the EU and Canada, the US politicians seem to be bent on destroying the ability for non-corporates to do technology R&D because the Hollywood content cartel wants it that way)

The main advantages of desktop Linux for the non-fanatic are:

• that it runs on cheap commodity x86 hardware. (which has its own problems neatly summarized by "cheap")
• MS doesn't sell it
• it's security doesn't suck shit, even right out of the box
• it looks a lot like the future.

The difference between cheap commodity x86 hardware and low cost high-quality Mac hardware is one most of us can probably live with.

The difference between It Just Works and the fun and games involved with adding new hardware and software to a Linux box is also something all of us but the hard core fanatics can live with. While the automated installer tools like apt-get/synaptic are probably as good as anything Apple sells and far better than anything Redmond ever imagined, it's really too bad that outside of the apps bundled with distributions, there isn't a whole lot that you can install with them.

Throw in the much larger number of applications which actually work and meet user needs available on the Mac platform and there aren't a whole lot of reasons to go with Linux as an alternative to Windows given a low-cost entry-level Mac platform which will probably physically break a lot less often than an eMachine or a Dell.

Don't tell me about the wonders of Open Office Writer and other FOSS apps, since I live in the real world, the "minor compatibility issues" get a lot more serious when I'm submitting copy to editors who run MS Word on Windows boxes. GIMP vs PaintShopPro? The only reason I can run Linux on my primary workstation, i.e. the box that helps me make a living is that Win4Lin(WHICH IS NOT FREE) works far better than WINE does, and therefore, I can run just about anything Windows in a Windows window over my copy of Fedora Core 2.

So what would a Linux box on a cheap x86 platform do for a user that a low-cost Mac doesn't? Break more often? Cause a user trying to install something or make it work after installing to spend lots and lots of time on the Web?

As for "looks a lot like the future", imagine yourself as an enterprise CIO who's sick of paying MS tax and paying to fix the endless series of major software security problems with MS and buying cheap commodity PCs that constantly break who gets pitched Apple quality, OSX, and a chance to reduce in-house support staff at the same time. With the other option being a consultant group pitching FOSS and saying "well, some of your boxes will support Linux, we'll have to see".

I've been investing time in Linux because I see a world evolving beyond MS's product line and I want to be one of the people who can explain it and fix it for a world full of Linux newbies who just bought or had corporate get them Linux boxes to replace their aging XP machines. A *nix OS that does everything Linux does, only better, puts that plan in question.

I'm putting my planned x86 hardware upgrade on hold until I find out if this is for real or not. If Apple can compete at the low end, Linux desktops may not have mu

In Win4Lin, it's a surprise when applications don't run.

I think I'll go download iTunes for Windows something soon.

Anybody tried iTunes/Win on VMWare yet?

A quick look at Codeweavers will reveal that "Most Windows software" DOES NOT RUN on even the commercialware version of WINE. That's why I'm running Win4Lin over FC2.

"Win4Lin was basically the same thing OS/2 used to run Windows 3.1 applications."

Not quite. IBM and Microsoft of course had access to the Windows source code, so they basically built a version of Windows that ran as an application under OS/2. At least, that was how my "blue spine" version of OS/2 Warp worked. I never used the "red spine" flavor, so that might do things differently.

Win4Lin, on the other hand, is a third-party VM. It boots and runs the "regular" Microsoft Windows, much like you do on a real machine.

"It actually ran a patched version Windows next to Linux."

Win4Lin does not really patch Windows. They do provide drivers for their virtual hardware, but that's not the same thing. They also offer an optional Winsock replacement for single-IP-address network access. I suppose you could call that a patch, but as I said, it is optional. I run Win4Lin using their virtual network card instead, which gets its own IP address on the LAN.

"It required kernel patches to Linux, too ..."

Yes. One patch to the kernel network interface (for the above mentioned network trickery), another to the scheduler to make it friendly to their VM technology. The scheduler patch is quite small and, as I understand it, fairly unobtrusive. I know that some distributions (e.g., Mandrake) even ship their kernels pre-patched for Win4Lin.

"... it was doing some very low-level trickery to basically make Windows and Linux run in the same memory space."

Not really the same memory space. My understanding is limited, but as I understand it, Linux is already giving each process a virtual memory space to run in. The patches enable Netraverse to give their VM a task and memory segment under Linux.

"I forget if it was 3.1 or 9x, though. I'm thinking 9x, but could be wrong."

Win4Lin can run MS-DOS, or MS-Windows 95, 98, or ME. Netraverse is currently working to enable Windows 2000/XP as well. No time frame yet. :-(

More info here: http://www.netraverse.com.

"Hmm, never heard of NeTraverse Merge... who develops it?"

Netraverse, of course. The Win4Lin people. Actually, Win4Lin and Merge are basically the same product.

"How does it compare with WINE?"

From a technical standpoint, we're talking apples and oranges. Wine is a project to independently implement a runtime environment that will be binary-compatible with Microsoft Windows. Win4Lin is an i386 virtualization tool tailored to run Microsoft Windows in a VM (virtual machine) on i386-based *nix.

From a practical standpoint, both are useful. Wine is, of course, free, while Win4Lin is a commercial product. Wine does not require any Microsoft software; Win4Lin requires you to provide MS Windows (to install and run in the VM). Wine is trying to chase Microsoft's moving target; Win4Lin lets you run the real thing. Wine uses less resources. Win4Lin is far more compatible -- it works with most any non-multimedia application flawlessly.

I use both. Win4Lin is extremely useful; it lets me run "the real thing" in a VM ("Windows in a window"), but with significantly better performance then VMware (doubtless because Win4Lin is tuned to just run Windows, while VMware is a full-blown, general-purpose VM). Wine yields better performance for applications which work with Wine. Win4Lin means no Wine compatability headaches; just install and run like a "real" 'doze box.

FWIW, IMO, YMMV, HTH, HAND, etc.

Here's the history behind Win4Lin/Netraverse, from my files:

It appears the company which originally developed the Merge software was "Locus Computing Corporation". They marketed a product called "DOS/Merge", which is the ancestor to the Win4Lin that we all know and love. DOS/Merge was later called "386/Merge" when 386 protected mode support was added.

At some point, a company called "Platinum" bought Locus. They apparently integrated Merge with other components into product lines called "PC-Enterprise" and "PC-Interface".

The Merge product was licensed to several other companies, including SCO, Sun, and HP. Sun and SCO both have commercial Unix products that run on Intel hardware; they offer "SCO Merge" and "Sun Merge" as layered products for their Unixes. (SCO, of course, later sold major assets (including their name) to Caldera, and Caldera then changed their name to SCO.)

At some point, a company called "DASCOM" bought the rights to Merge from Platinum. (Shortly thereafter, Platinum was bought by Computer Associates (CA), and fell off the Earth.) DASCOM was later bought by IBM. IBM was not interested in Merge, and spun the Merge group off as "TreLOS". TreLOS later merged with Lastfoot.com, and became "NeTraverse".

So:

Locus -> Platinum -> DASCOM -> IBM -> TreLOS + Lastfoot -> NeTraverse

DOS/Merge -> 386/Merge -> PC-Enterprise & PC-Interface -> Win4Lin

I was in a unixware shop many years ago, and the best thing I like about it was a piece of software called Merge. But a couple years ago, Win4lin, came out for Linux. This was back in the multi-cpu 486 days, made a great call center server with a hundred operators on it. Other than than the printer queue's fscking up, it was stable. But I was already running BSD for any server I was tasked to engineer.

Today, I dont really see a reason to use unixware. The software is all GPL'ed software you can download on most platforms, and Solaris and Linux have better support.

Just my 2cents.

For more information on volume licensing or to purchase Win4Lin for corporate, education or government usage, please contact sales@netraverse.com

Gee, I can't imagine where I got the idea that they'd welcome educational inquiries.

We all know that no real companies offer discounted versions of popular products for low-volume end users. Can you imagine Microsoft making a "Student and Teacher" edition of office, or Apple making an "eMac"? Imagine their sales department just busting their ass to reply to some guy who wants an educational discount...LOL.

No, I stand by my original assertion that Win4Lin is dead. Their sales and support staff certainly no longer exists.

Win4Lin is dead

What the hell are you talking about??? What's wrong with the BUY link on this page? It's $89 bucks, you can't even get the educational version of VMWare for that price. Beisdes, they're rolling out support for W2K this fall without resorting to CPU intensive hardware emulation.

Anyhow, Bochs is your only "free" option to get W98 running. I don't know what the performance will be like, I've never used it.

How about:

Frank's Corner
This website contains all the information you need to get Windows applications and games running on Linux using Wine. Popular applications: AutoCAD R14, Photoshop 7.0, ...

CrossOver Office
Allows you to run many popular office productivity software applications, such as Microsoft Office, Lotus Notes, Microsoft Project and Visio, graphics applications like Macromedia Dreamweaver MX, Flash MX, ... Quicken, and Adobe Photoshop, and ... allows Windows Web browser plugins, such as QuickTime and Shockwave, directly on your Linux browser. No Windows Operating System license required; CrossOver is a complete replacement for your Windows OS as far as your applications are concerned. They note that Solidworks 2004 remains untested and they're looking for an advocate.

NeTraverse Win4Lin Run your favorite Windows applications on the Linux operating system in the fastest Windows 95/98/ME environment available for Linux.

I've only had experience with Crossover Office, starting about 3 years ago, when I absolutely had to get MS Office 97 working on a Linux box for a Master's thesis (OO.org 1.x and StarOffice 6.x both messed up on the document's footnotes and/or endnotes back then). I bought Crossover Office at LinuxWorld SF, and it worked fine, though I didn't try it with any other applications.

I hate to admit it (as a Linux user) that I use Microsoft Money. I've used MS Money since 2001, and the reason? Because I could try it before I bought it. As far as I can tell there's no way to try the latest version of Quicken without first plunking down some cash. And then if I don't like it, I'm stuck with something that I don't like.

I've tried gnucash and Moneydance. Frankly, they suck. I would love to see a usable personal finance software package from the F/OSS crowd that will run on my linux boxes. But I haven't found one yet. The only two options (IMHO) are Quicken and MS Money. And I'm not going to pay for Quicken until I'm sure that it will meet my needs. And personal financial management software is absolutely critical in my ability to maintain what I espouse in my signature. I use MS Money every day. I skip a day every week or so. But if I ever skipped a week, I'd feel very uncomfortable about my personal finances.

So, I'd much prefer to use a F/OSS package that accomplishes what I can do in MS Money. And, in lieu of that, I'd prefer one that was platform independant. But nothing that I've tried yet has come even close.

FYI: I run MS Money under linux using Win4Lin

I thought Win4Lin did emulate hardware. From their site they say that Win4Lin "provides a complete virtual PC environment for the Windows operating systems." Elsewhere it says that they provide a virtual network card. I may be wrong, however, since as I said I have never run the program.

Something comparable would be more like if FreeDOS could be made to run in userspace on Linux and then used it to run Win98.

DOSEMU sounds like what you are describing, and I know people have been successful running Windows 3.1 on it. No Windows 95 and above, though.

The real selling point about Win4Lin over VmWare is that, like WINE, it uses your local filesystem so there no disk image file. Now, I think (think) that the latest VmWare allows this too but I haven't tried it.

Yes, this is a convenient feature. Maybe the QEMU guys can implement it eventually. Right now it is still a fairly new program.

Why don't you just run windows if you need to run windows applications? They'd probably run better.

Actually I've been using Win4Lin for a few months now and I'm genuinely impressed with it. It's not Open Source, and it's not free (as in beer), but I feel it was worth my money. I run Win4Lin full screen on another X session by running "fwin -auth" and in my opinion there is no perceivable difference in performance for the programs I run.

Win4Lin doesn't emulate the way VMware does. Win4Lin works at the Kernel level and transparently passes 90-something percent of all the Windows "calls" directly to the CPU to be executed. So most of the time, Windows isn't even exactly running "under" Linux. The only time code isn't executed directly on the CPU is when said code would conflict with something that Linux needs complete control of. For example, certain hardware calls have to be trapped by Win4Lin, interpretted, and then executed. (Check netraverse.com for more exact details.)

Yes

I'm always on the search for embedded development tools for Linux. Although once in a while I have to deal with a windows based tool (which I run under win4lin), most of the time I am happily coding, compiling/linking and debugging under Linux.

I actually cut my teeth in embedded programming with the Intel 8048/8052 (yes the original 12 clocks per instruction). Those were the days - little or no embedded peripherals (the 8048 had no UART, or stack pointer for that matter), handful of bytes of RAM, a few kBytes or Flash, programming required 21V. Today's micros have much more horsepower, a lot more memory and (more importantly) lots of embedded peripherals. What is also very nice is that most modern micros can be programmed with a single bit banger from the parallel port using their ISP (In-Service Programming)!

Although the PIC micro was a great entry level micro (I first used them back in 1991, IIRC), I personally recommend the Atmel AVR as an entry level device.

Even though the AVR is 8 bits, it packs a hell of a lot of computing power into the instruction set (16 MHz means nearly 16 MIPs). I would call the AVR a pseudo 16 bit micro because many of the registers can be combined to act as 16 pointers/indexes. In fact the stack pointer is 16 bits, allowing a stack up to 64-4 kBytes (although the parts currently only have 8 kBytes of internal RAM, the ones with an external bus can have the stack (.bss or .data for that matter) outside the chip. BTW, don't get confused with the 8051 derivatives with fake out 16 bit access, the AVR has true 16 bit pointers allowing data and the stack to be located anywhere within the RAM memory range.

Just like the PIC, the AVR needs minimal components to operate. In fact, if you can live with an inaccurate clock, you can actually run the part without a crystal because of the on-chip R/C oscillator. Since there is an on-chip power on reset, you don't even need an R/C reset circuit.

As for development tools under Linux, you can find the sources for all the GNU AVR tools at my site. I also have a script that will build and install GCC, binutils, libc and GDB/insight for the AVR under Linux (and most unices). You can also find links to free programming tools that allow programming of parts in-circuit (via ISP or JTAG).

I hope this helps you on your way to embedded hacking under Linux. And remember there are a lot of other nice micros out there so keep looking, and have fun (and good luck with your engineering degree)!

Subject: Will Win4Lin run Windows 2000 or Windows XP?

Author: Amanda Owens

No, as of Win4Lin Version 4.0, Win4Lin only runs Windows 95, Windows 98 and Windows ME. We are currently developing Windows 2000 support for a future Win4Lin release, but do not yet have a target date when the release will be available.

Oh yes, I have no links to said company other than being a very satisfied customer.

Personally, I use Win4Lin.

Personally, I use Win4Lin. It's runs windows as either a separate window or in full screen mode (think X Windows but running Windws). I sometimes like to run win4lin in full screen mode and confuse people since it's almost impossible to tell you're running it under linux until you try to do low-level stuff like configuring device drivers & network stuff. It's a really great product; but only runs Windows 98 (heard they're working on Win2K version), and doesn't do directx games. Other than that, everything works -- Microsoft Office, IE, Kazaa, chessmaster etc. I'll be happy to provide more details on request. Oh yes, I have no links to said company other than being a very satisfied customer.

Sounds exactly like Win4Lin.

Which funny started out as Merge on SCO Unix, allowed people to run Windows and SCO Unix at the same time.

We have Win4Lin and VMWARE that allows you to run any Windows, but you still need a licensed copy, WINE doesn't. Not sure how Project David would get around not having a licensed copy of windows or using windows .dll's.

Wierd they are demo'ing the product when the development website says its still being designed.

Here's the bandwagon... you know what to do...

Waste runs under wine, but there are a lot of annoying issues, and the port seems dead in the water.

I bought Win4Lin ... and WASTE was one of my motivating reasons for buying it. If WASTE is important enough to you, I'd recommend Win4Lin. And you get the addeded benefit of being able to do other Windows things. (Kaaza [though giFT works well enough for me most of the time], and whatever other Windows things you need.) The only "problem" with Win4Lin is that at this point in time it's Win95/98/98SE/ME only. However - if your programs will operate under Win98SE (WASTE will), then it's actually an advantage due to lower resource requirements.

I downloaded this PadLockSL but I'm not really impressed with it. The GUI looks "broken" in several places. Text doesn't line up correctly over the buttons and things of that nature. And it doesn't connect with our WASTE network anyway.

Although it doesn't work with the NT kernel, Win4Lin does exactly this for the win9x (95, 98 and ME) series! Windows tends to be a lot more modular in this respect than most people realise.

Don't forget Win4Lin. It'll only run win9X, but it works well for me.

This has been done before. Try:

Wine if you just want a few Windows apps on your PC.
Win4Lin if you really want Windows on your PC.
VMWare if you want XP on your PC.
TightVNC if you want to access a Windows box from another box.
Samba if you want to share your drives back to your Windows box.

I have been happily using win4lin for two years now. It is just windows (98 or me but not XP; you need a license) in a window running under linux. My favorite part is that I can do 'kill -9' when it annoys me.

Get yourself a copy of Win4Lin it's what I used to use before I got my PowerBook.

In my opinion it runs better than Windows native, as long as you are OK with win 98.

You can even test multiple versions of IE this way as I recall with just symlinks to the different installs.

Not to flame, but your statement:

I have the best of both worlds

Can be done on a linux point of view by saying that I also have both worlds, when running linux, by using win4lin. Win4Lin has been great to me by allowing me to make my mothers computer run linux while using win4lin to be the graphic display. She has all the functionality of windows she needs, while I have all the peace of mind of linux I need.

Your cygwin under windows 2000 may have the linux functionality you need, but If my mother downloads a virus i can simply remove it in linux or do a refresh kind of thing with Win4Lin. While you might be better off reformating your whole computer.

I feel not only should you use the right tool for the job, but you have to be comfortable with the tool you are using. This goes both ways (linux and windows), but comfort is not only usability.

Depends on what you need to do.

If all you need is Windows functionality in Linux and Win98 will do, look into Win4Lin.

I have used and it worked well for my needs at the time, easily native speeds if not better (probably due to I/O being better).

The only thing I liked about SCO was a software app called MERGE, but now you can find the exact same thing called "Win4lin" for linux. Lets you virtualize your System to run 2 OS's at the same time.

This is the only company I could see SCO sue, the developers from NetTraverse used to work at SCO.

BTW, the article is a rehash. Every lawyer says the GPL is enforceable.

I gave up trying to use Debian's installer long ago. I typically boot Knoppix and then do a network install using the debootstrap command. Although, I tried a debian-installer CD image lately (inside VMware -- VMware is great), and it worked quite well for me.

I'm still on windows though. Linux has other problems that need solutions before I move over (and I really wanna ditch XP.)

Ever considered buying the Crossover Plugin and either Win4Lin or VMware?

I have, and I can definitely say that, since I started using these three programs, I have never needed to boot Windows natively to do anything (though I don't typically play Win32 3D games, but I think VMware might support these now).

It involves shelling out a bit of money, but it's worth it!

Anyway, see if it works for you. You can't play DirectX games with it, but it runs Office and just about anything else Windows (including Quicken and QuickTime) just fine. Around $90 for download license.

DT

Their Win4Lin product lets you run Windows on top of Linux at near-native speed, and supports pretty much everything out of the box except for DirectX games (which itself is a major reason to run Microsoft OSs).

If Microsoft would buy them, then there'd be one less company that lets Linux and Windows coexist, thereby enlarging the OS chasm, which is what I guess they're after, besides the meta-issue of world domination of course.

(... and now to go get me some o' that Netraverse stock ...)

DT

I would consider the Win4Lin Terminal Server. You get Linux on the clients without any retraining. Boot your client PCs from a floppy, network drive, or CD and then start a Win4Lin session. Your users won't know or care how it works. You can run 25 sessions on a dual PIII server. You eliminate most of your client headaches and save money. Plus you have the opportunity to sneak an occasional Linux app into the mix using just X or VNC.

Windows 98 isn't affected by the blaster worm, so go purchase win4lin and install Windows 98 in a win4lin session in Linux. Then you can run Kazaa there.

How does everyone pronounce it anyway...

Kuh-ZAH

or

KAH-zuh

?

The question about SCO and Win4Lin/Merge came up on the Win4Lin-users mailing list recently, and there were some interesting replies:

https://www.netraverse.com:9100/lists/win4lin-user s/Message/4749.html
https://www.netraverse.com:9100/lists/win4lin-user s/Message/4750.html

Win4Lin is based on Merge technology, which as also been licensed *to* SCO. SCO has never owned any of the Merge code - the just resell it in their Unixware package.

The question about SCO and Win4Lin/Merge came up on the Win4Lin-users mailing list recently, and there were some interesting replies:

https://www.netraverse.com:9100/lists/win4lin-user s/Message/4749.html
https://www.netraverse.com:9100/lists/win4lin-user s/Message/4750.html

Win4Lin is based on Merge technology, which as also been licensed *to* SCO. SCO has never owned any of the Merge code - the just resell it in their Unixware package.

Here the homepage of NeTraverse: www.netraverse.com

...and a screenshot.

Here the homepage of NeTraverse: www.netraverse.com

...and a screenshot.

It looks like one of the most important new features is Winsock 2 support.

(quoted from NeTraverse Win4Lin Terminal Server S2.0 web page):

Win4Lin Terminal Server 2.0 is derived from proven technologies developed for Unix® based operating systems over the last 15 years, most notably those of SCO® (Caldera®), under the product name of Merge(tm).

So their technology is actually derivated from SCO's... prepare to get sued.

The winlin link from the article mentions quite a few cost benefits:

...reducing costs and increasing productivity by migrating to a more reliable, cost-effective and high-performance computing platform...

...ensures the significant cost savings necessary to reduce the Total Cost of Ownership of desktop management...

shrug. Adspeak.

More importantly (and they also mention this) - you can use it to ease your users from (expensive) windows to (cheap) linux.

We evaluated Citrix and discovered the opposite.

Citrix doesn't give you the wealth of linux tools + an eventual end to windependence.

The only thing Windows can't do is run on top of Linux :).

Sure it can, using VMware, Win4Lin, Bochs or Plex86.

I run most of my windows based apps in win4lin. There were huge complaints on the win4lin-users list about how TurboTax wouldn't work. And it turns out its because TT tries to write to the boot sector, and win4lin simply doesn't allow it. So, after seeing this, I used TaxCut, which didn't have any such problems.

You might want to look at Win4Lin. The last version I used was 3.0 so I can't speak about 4.0. But in my experience 3.0 ran Win 98 just as fast if not fatser than native, probably due to disk IO. YMMV.

That is neat, though it already exists (serving Windows from a *nix server to a client computer running almost any platform, or running a local copy of the software for your single *nix machine)... with the software NeTraverse makes...

Use their Terminal Server Software... I connected to a server in another state over broadband to a cable modem of a computer running it. I opened (on Win2k, incidentally), a terminal client that ran Windows (a different version of windows than I was running on my local machine) from the *nix server.

From there I ran Office, Explorer, and other apps installed on that machine. This was a version of Windows being served from the *nix machine itself (which handles the users and OS serving itself).

Actually, Win4Lin Terminal Server has been on the market for quite some time now, and can serve multiple concurrent Windows desktops from a Linux server to thin clients, web browsers, etc. Also, despite serving an entire Windows session, performance in general is far superior to WINE-based applications because of the amount of hardware virtualization (Windows device drivers run natively on the CPU, but translate to Linux system calls on the fly.) Finally, WTS runs almost all Windows applications that do not require DirectX, you are not restricted to just MS Office.

Get ahold of Win4Lin.

It's cheap, it's stable, and it runs every version of Photoshop I've had to use, from 5 onward.

Don't worry about speed, either. I clock most of the effects as faster running in Win4Lin using Windows 98 SE than in native Windows 98 SE and the Windows desktop in Win4Lin (which runs in a Linux window) is snappier than native Windows 98 SE as well, I assume because of the much better filesystem caching of Linux.

I also use Win4Lin to run MS Office. It's a great application and it won't cost you a bank!