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Ask About Running Windows Software in Linux
There have been recent reports about programs from Israel, Canada, and The Philippines that let you run Windows software in Linux. Are they really new? Can they succeed? Is this whole effort worth the time and trouble going into it? CodeWeavers CEO and Wine maven Jeremy White ought to know, since he's been working to bring Windows software to Linux users for many years -- with quite a bit of success. We'll forward 10 - 12 of the highest moderated questions posted here to Jeremy, and run his answers as soon as we get them back.
How easy is it for you to sleep at night knowing your job is dependant on Linux succeeding, yet MS software staying popular? You are living in a paradox of a job!
(This is supposed to be a joke, not to insult the guys)
Good quote, too many chars. Seriously, the slashdot 120 char limit sucks!
will there ever be the possibility to run the famous windows worms and virii in linux?
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awake and alert!
-Penguin Mints
but...
does it run Linux??
So far, WINE has appeared to be mostly focused on games.
I have heard it said, "Windows is only good for playing games". Does that explain anything?
Don't waste your vote! Vote for whoever you want, unless you live in a swing state it won't matter anyways
HOWEVER. I for one think Linux has a long way to go before it can be used be Joe and Jane CompUSA customer. Simple things are missing from many distros that end up requireing extensive work to add. Untill the end user dosn't need to mess around in the kernel code it will not be acceptable. For example.
I'm building a PPTP server, which should be simple.
Wait a minute, you're telling me that Joe and Jane from CompUSA want to build a PPTP server. I'll give you good news: with Linux they can even run a beowulf cluster of those...
Aren't you worried that you'll corrupt Linux with the viral Windows licensing scheme?
I have a cron job running that waits a random amount of time (30 minutes to 5 hours) and then does a shutdown and reboot. This duplicates XP's Random Reboot of Death nearly perfectly, with the exception that it doesn't allow the filesystem to be corrupted :( I also run the BSoD screensaver for that "old sk00l" Windows feel.
I think to really do it right would require a kernel patch though.
I'm sure the /. community wants to know.
That's awesome - thanks. I just assumed It Wouldn't Work.
:)
Now if I can just convinece Blue's Clues that my fileserver is actually the CD ROM drive, I can avoid having my 3 year old put CDs into the computer
You might have to switch to the console to remount, something your 3 year old will definitely have troubles with. ;-)
Bah. Only if your kid is a fscking wuss. My 3 year old is currently hacking on some kernel code. Even my 1 year old writes complex AI algorithms!
WINE will have truly succeeded, not when everyone switches from Windows to Linux, but when software developers begin to:
1. Code their Windows apps in a way which makes it easy to run them on WINE
2. test / support WINE as a platform
If this happens, XAML and all future Microsoft dominance is doomed. What we will end up with is the common set of easy, sensible Win32 APIs usable across multiple implementations, and the crufty, proprietary, unnecessary crap being ignored.
Doesn't anyone remember the other proprietary OS this happened to?
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Well, if you are then, how about you stand against that wall over there.... good, a little to the left, thank you. Now it is, um, well, its revolution time, and as you can see, you are up against a wall. Sorry, this is going to be a tad loud, dont worry, it will only last a moment.
Slashdot, where armchair scientists get shouted down and armchair theologians get modded up.