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Crossover Office 2.0 Released
freakyfreak2 writes "Crossover Office 2.0.0 was just released. Finally can get Office XP apps to run. Here's from the announcement. "The changes in this release are as follows:
Support was added for Photoshop 7, Access 2000, Word XP, Excel XP, and
Powerpoint XP. glibc 2.3 issues were fixed. The setup GUI was
dramatically improved. Tablet support for Photoshop was added. File
locking and file change notification support were added. Scripts were
added so that the technically inclined can have Windows applications
open specific file types using Unix applications, for instance,
opening PDF fies with the Unix Acrobat Reader. Many other cleanups
and bug fixes were made. "
Here's the homepage and here's the change log. I'm still waiting on getting Dreamweaver MX to run."
"Crossover Office" sounds like a building full of transvestites.
Trolling is a art,
Do they have to add support for every single application which should be able to run with Crossover or does it simply mean it's guaranteed these applications will run with crossover?
They are freskmeat.net links but they just redirect to codeweavers actual site.
<conspiracy>
OSDN is keeping track of our clicking habits
</conspiracy>
my other penis is a vagina
Only vaguely, in as much as it's WINE related. Crossover produce a very good product though, and I'd love to see them succeed. Also, unlike TransGaming, they contribute all their changes back into the main WINE tree, thus earning them huge kudos as good citizens of the open source community.
"The invisible and the non-existent look very much alike." -- Delos B. McKown
this is pretty nifty, but i think I'll stick with openoffice. I won't have to pay $100 to upgrade it when the next version is released and it's interoperable with MS Office.
Don't become a regular here, you will become retarded. -- Yoda the Retard
it has been my understanding that there's a really great program-loader for Windows applications. It has native window management support, vendor device support, and lots more!
It's called Windows.
I always thought that WINE was a stopgap, a thing to tide you over until your users were comfortable with OpenOffice or whatever. Now we can run tomorrow's Windows apps today. I can't seem to shake the idea that by running Windows apps on Linux waters down the latter and strengthens the former.
ZOMG I WOULD LOVE TO KNOW ABOUT YOUR FEELINGS ON MACINTOSH VERSUS WINDOWS, VI VERSUS EMACS, AND HOW YOU'RE NOT A DORK
Why? So you can have huge chunks of javacript that sucks embedded into every single page? Or perhaps you want your HTML to look like it was laid out by a deranged monkey?
TWW
"Encyclopedia" is to "Wikipedia" what "Library" is to "Some people at a bus stop"
...not yet - give it time.
Dude, where's my Karma?
Hmm. I've long said I can never use linux on my desk at home until I can run Photoshop (and run it well). I'll be interested to see how well this works. Anyone tried yet?
(and yes, I know about gimp, and yes, I know about OSX and photoshop)
before i get flamed or trolled, there are lots of great apps that run on windows, apps that don't come from microsoft. if a company can keep their same apps, running atop linux, then it will make migration much easier, even possible. then, when the install base of linux goes up, companies will offer commercial apps on linux.
the problem that linux desktop adoption has is not quality nor quantity. there are plenty of both. there is always that one app that can't be replaced. microsoft's hold on the desktop is tenuous at best. they do know this. why else all the EULA fuss over foxpro. they have traction, but they don't have momentum. they have a base that HAS TO use their products, but many don't necessarily choose to. this gives businesses one less reson to not look into linux.
My problem? I was perfectly gruntled, until some numbnuts came by and dissed me.
Yeah, sure. If you want to run openoffice, more power to you. If there are EQUIVALENT programs that are linux native, I'll use them. However, I don't see any programs equal to Photoshop 7 that are Linux native, and Adobe has stated that there won't be a Linux port of Photoshop.
The GIMP is nice, but it isn't Photoshop. Also, the Crossover office tools are wonderful for those of us in Windows shop who need Outlook, but run Linux boxes for development and just cause we can.
Hitomi Ikazuchi Dragon Clan Barbarian Monk
Seriously, a stock wine install (03-2003 here) should work fine. In my case I'm using Office 2000 under FreeBSD. Yes, it even runs the installer fine (make sure it doesn't use built-in CAB extractor but the one on the O2k CD), you do NOT need any "native" Windows partition/system binaries/DLLs to get most functionality. Exceptions are OLE stuff for Word saving, which needs native DLLs, and Access/IE is pretty much broke (but Crossover before version 2 didn't officially support either anyway).
I can buy proprietary Crossover Office, which let's me buy proprietary Office XP and run it on my otherwise open computer (Oh, and I still have to register/authenticate/indoctrinate/whatever Office XP or it won't work).
OR
I can run Open Office.
Tough choice.
If all this should have a reason, we would be the last to know.
I'm not very sure it's a good thing that Microsoft's applications run under a Linux operating system. This might increase the use of MS's closed document formats (doc, xls,...) by Linux users.
I think that alternative office environments, like OpenOffice.org, are far more important. These apps import MS documents without a lot of trouble, and save the documents by default in a documented file format.
If only more people knew about (and trusted) the cheap alternatives for MS Office, then the number of closed document formats in digital communcation might reduce at last.
Comment removed based on user account deletion
Now it seems those photoshop fans who arre too good for the GIMP now have less of an excuse not to go to Linux. One of the biggest arguments I've heard against WINE was that Photoshop and Office XP weren't supported, so I expect all those people to switch to Linux now.
"Hello, Jim? This is Bob in the 'Office' department. Can you fax over that Visual FoxPro EULA? I think we might need to include that verbiage in our products too now. Sure, I'll be looking for it. Thanks!"
try { do() || do_not(); } catch (JediException err) { yoda(err); }
Many of the productivity apps supported are the only reasons many need a Windows installation. I wonder how long it will be before Microsoft try and buy them?
Now all we need is a good WINE fork specialising in MIDI and audio work.
I already have a copy of Office XP... the presentation app in Open Office sucks IMHO... usability is terrible with it and I need compatability with MS Office anyways. So Crossover Office plus Office XP is a good deal for me. I hate the proprietary MS crap as much as the next guy, but when it comes to office... they've done a pretty good job with makeing it all work nicely. Now if OO.o had a better interface and there was a good open standard for Presentations that both Open Office and MS Office could use then I would be using open office.
So in a way my problem is both caused by and solved by Microsoft.... now that should be the definition of a monopoly!! In the words of Homer "Beer... the cause of and solution to all of lifes problems"
... removed all incentive for developers to create OS/2 native applications.
Companies with huge investments in MS Office may well wish to continue running it, while moving away from Windows. And of course, Wine/CXOffice runs a lot more than just MS Office, the name is slightly misleading. If you need CMYK, then you need Photoshop, and if you want to use Linux, then Wine it is.
Many Linux advocates just don't get it. On the desktop, Linux is simply not going to move beyond being a niche environment until it becomes easy for average people to use the Apps that they today. Crossover Office has great potential as a tool to help accomplish this.
Yes, but if there's some app that you just HAVE to run (Visio seems to be the one that everyone puts in this pile, as there's no solid OSS alternative), Crossover Office or WINE would be a good way to get onto the Linux platform. Even if someone ran all their productivity apps under CO, just being on the Linux platform would expose them to the "non-productivity" apps (XMMS, Konqueror, etc.) that would encourage them to delve deeper into free-as-in-freedom software.
The Spoon
Updated 6/28/2011
I have no idea what this story is about. It's traditional to make the first paragraph of a story a summary of what the rest of the story is about. In fact, when /. was established someone understood this fact and so had the idea of putting the first paragraph of each story on the front page with a link to the rest of the story. But that seems to have been forgotten over the years. This reads like someone just figured something out while sitting on the toilet and couldn't wait to run to his PC to tell his friends about it. It isn't even in complete sentences.
Doesn't it make you feel good to know that our freedoms are protected by politicans, lawyers and journalists.
I strongly disagree. There were two big hurdles to getting VFP working. First was a mouse click bug. Duane Clark (IIRC, can't seem to reach the arcives) fixed that. The second was file locking. File locking is a BIG issue for any program that wants to be multi-user friendly (such as FoxPro or Access). Alexandre Julliard did that work, and is DIRECTLY related to Codeweavers being able to say they support MS Access.
"I can't give you a brain, so I'll give you a diploma" - The Great Oz (blatently stolen sig)
It may not be fully supported by Codeweavers [yet?], but you can already install and run Dreamweaver MX in earlier versions of Crossover Office/Wine.
You just need to add a simple script that gets over the "required resources" warning by moving the user into the same directory as the executable before running it.
At least, it works for me. I do database hookups, PHP coding, etc.
--- Man hands on misery to man....until http://www.samsource.com/
In a strange ironic twist, those go away when you do pay..
"I can't give you a brain, so I'll give you a diploma" - The Great Oz (blatently stolen sig)
OO wont replace Access, yet.
While it may not be the best choice in the world, a LOT of things in business rely on MS Access.
---- Booth was a patriot ----
Well, I won't touch anything with the letters "XP" voluntarily, but if I might substitute Office 2000, then it's simply because, overall, it's better than OO *now*. No, this isn't a flame or a troll...simply the result of struggling and fighting with OO for months before deciding that it gave me more headaches than MS.
To disclose, I'm not a Stallman disciple - I would prefer an Open alternative, but really I'm going to use the best tool for the job. Right now (and yes, I'm obviously talking 1.0) OO isn't it. Open anything reasonably complicated (things embedded, complicated formatting, etc) and OO pukes. The UI is a joke, even compared to MS, and that's hard to do. Opening ASCII datafiles is a pain in the ass. It's way too bloated (easily rivals if not beats MSOffice), and actually too integrated for it's own good. I could go on...
Now, I would rather have Office running on linux than on a separate box (I can't dual boot my linux box, I use it as a server too). I tried xoveroffice 1.0, and found it to be exceptionally buggy. Things would occasionally hang, and worse, sometimes the hanging would necessitate a complete reinstall of xover. Not good! Then I tried vmware, and had some issues there too (it doesn't like slackware's startup scripts, so I had issues getting modules to restart on reboot).
So far, my solution is to avoid Offices of all kinds. I use Matlab for my data analysis, and I do as much in that as possible to avoid excel. I can do a lot in that, but I would like a decent spreadsheet too, and one that doesn't hang at inopportune times.
So, bottom line, 1) OO is a mess, and 2) I haven't found a great way to run MS Office on linux yet. So, at the office, we have a linux box, a mac(OSX), and a windows box. Between them, at least one does any job reasonably.
Seriously though, since they *are* contributing back to the wine project, I assume that there is enough stability now due to their additions that I can do the same with free-wine?
Or is there to be a delay before the functionality is offered to us people that cant afford it for just personal use.
---- Booth was a patriot ----
I've been using Dreamweaver since 2.0 and I dont understand why people think it' creates bloated code? It's HTML as simple as you can get. It's javascript is rather bloated but you dont have to use that at all. I write my own javascript and just use those snippets. MX is highly customizable and very powerful. I use it everyday for my job. I've yet to find something that can replace it. I do alot of hand coding in it too and I do know quite a bit.
Because idiot coworkers use MS products
Boy. YOu should be a spokesperson for Open Source. You have such an elegant way of insulting people you should be educating.
Two words -- Microsoft Access.
Yes, I know that OO.o has some sort of database support, but many companies have invested in extensive custom apps in Access, and rewriting these using OO.o's feature-poor database tool is a non-starter.
And yes, I know that Access has a lousy native database, and that postgresql/mysql/firebirdsql can slice & dice those fries for you... or gnoda, or rekall... but serious Access apps have backends in Sql Server or Oracle or some real database. And it's still much cheaper & simpler to buy Crossover office & run the existing app than to rewrite everything (especially if your mickey geeks don't know python or tcl).
I do have hopes that eventually mono will provide a seamless way to port MS Access apps to a native linux app -- and I hope someone on the mono team is working on an application porter for Access apps -- but in the meanwhile Crossover Office is a huge step forward. There really isn't a good replacement for Access on linux yet. Really. But thanks to codeweavers, it's actually possible despite that lack to ditch Windows, switch to OO.o for word processing & spreadsheets, evolution for email,, etc, and run that legacy Access app too.
Mock if you will, trolls, but this is a watershed moment for linux. This frees many companies who are tied to Access but hate Microsoft. It'll be cheaper for IT departments to hang onto their Office 2000 licenses & port the desktop to linux than to upgrade to XP & licensing 6. Then they can migrate the applications at their leisure.
One really cool use would be a web-server based file translator from Microsoft Word format to other formats (say, .rtf) using Microsoft Word as the engine to do the translation. It could filter your email, and automatically translate those Microsoft Office documents into something readable. Perhaps it could even brute force some files (power point, for example) into screen captured graphics files.
But using the actual Microsoft software to do the translation would ensure that at least the file was read in correctly.
That way you'd only need one copy of office for an entire office.
It's not wasting time, I'm educating myself.
I saw a project once (can't find it now or remember the name of it) which was a script that goes on a Windows server.. you email it a doc file and it automatically converts it to some other format using MS Word and sends it back to you. Since that would obviously handle any .doc, it would sure be nice if someone would set up a publically accessible server that does that.
Don't drop the soap, Tommy!
There is something that I cannot understand.
Doesn't Crossover Office use Wine?
Yes.
Isn't Wine GPL?
No. It's LGPL.
Then, how come Wine still struggles to run the same apps?
It does? Takes some work to get them installed, but it works pretty much the same as Crossover after that.
I should be able to download their source code, shouldn't I?
You can. At least the changes to wine. Here.
Can I do this? I'd like to use their improvements made to Wine, as stated in the GPL and run it for free.
After all, they have used a huge amount of code developed by people who wanted to make their code free.
Am I missing anything?
Yes. A clue. There are proprietary bits in Crossover. Ie, thier simple installer/configuration tool. It makes installation a snap and integration with your desktop just as easy.
It's a very useful product. If you need it, pay for it. There really is nothing wrong with paying for good software. I promise. The world will not hate you for it. Sure, some over zealous geeks might poke fun at you.
This is the reason F/OSS will never dominate MS. Too many think EVERYTHING must be free. As in free ride.
And it is not emulation -- it is an alternate API implentation. WINE on x86 requires no virtualization or emulation of machine instructions. WINE loads the EXEs directly into RAM and locates the various DLLs so that the machine can properly run the Windoze program. This is not emulation.
Karma whorin' since 1999
Remember, a lot of people still use computers *for work*. Open Office is a nice product, but its not Microsoft Office. And its not on par yet.
More to the point, its not reliably compatible (not to fault the developers) and that makes it pretty close to useless in a business world that is dependant on Microsoft Office.
I get the feeling that a lot of 'geeks' who shout about how great the free open source alternative is have never really used Microsoft Office for anything beyond term papers and letters home. Sure, it'll open the MS equivalent of a RTF but throw complicated formatting at it and it bombs. My company uses Excel *a lot* and we have some pretty complicated formulas which we *depend on* to get what we do done. Open Office isn't an alternative. Period.
And its got an up hill battle, because Microsoft Office is actually a good product and businesses expect to pay for this sort of thing just like they expect the service and support that comes with it. A free alternative is just a questionable business decision and one that wont support the way they have done business for the past 6 or 7 years is simply not realistic.
I wish it weren't the case.
I know OSS people tend to be pretty passionate about this sort of issue, but business tends to be pragmatic and conservative. Free doesn't really fit neatly into the capitalistic lexicon. Everything has a cost and uncertainty is one of the worst.
Quack, quack.
If you don't mind actually having to run Windows, then I would like to second the suggestion on getting VMware to work.
I've been using VMware since the pre-1.0 beta and have purchased every version since. It's a great product. It's an essential part of my consulting work. I never need to reboot my machine and I can run pretty much any OS I need (including BSD's and Linux) or start complete networks of machines.
Plus I can run MSOffice then way it was meant to be run without any problems at all. I also spend a lot of time in DevStudio under VMware.
For me it works out really good. I run Linux as my primary OS and benefit from the stability and security (I often am plugging into strange and unknown networks so I find iptables very useful). Yet I can still run all the Windows applications I need when working for a Windows based client. I can also run RedHat or whatever distro in VMware if my client uses those (I use Debian). I could go on.
The ratio of people to cake is too big