Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Codeweavers Releases CrossOver For Intel Mac

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the schmootcamp-schmarallels dept.

dbialac writes, "Codeweavers, one of the major players in the Wine Project, have released their first beta of CrossOver for Mac. I've downloaded it and played around with it and though there are glitches, it does seem to run programs' standard features quite well."

10 of 148 comments (clear)

  1. Yes, but ... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny
    CrossOver Mac will be the very best way to run your Windows applications on your Intel based Mac.
    Yes, but does it run Cygwin?
    1. Re:Yes, but ... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

      * ----- Joke

      O
      -|- ---- You
      ||

      That loud crack you heard was the joke passing supersonic velocities.

  2. Most tested apps by Jade+E.+2 · · Score: 5, Funny

    The top 3 most-ranked apps on their compatibility list are Office 2003, iTunes, and... Lotus Notes 6.5.1+.

    To whoever is tasked with trying to make Notes run... on Linux... on a Mac...

    We feel for you man.

    1. Re:Most tested apps by noidentity · · Score: 4, Funny

      And to whoever is tasked with testing the Windows version of iTunes under this environment, have you not yet realized that Apple provides a Mac version?

  3. in other news... by User+956 · · Score: 5, Funny

    CrossOver Mac will be the very best way to run your Windows applications on your Intel based Mac. It will let you install and run Windows programs as though they were native, all without having to buy or run a copy of Windows itself.

    In other news, the guys over at CherryOS have announced that they have a new product...

    --
    The theory of relativity doesn't work right in Arkansas.
  4. Re:City of Villains by adrianmonk · · Score: 5, Funny
    The one and only Windows program I use is City of Heroes/Villains. I've can get the updater running, which downloads the patches, but then it goes to "Loading", and while my fans go nuts, it never actually produces anything interesting.

    Well, at least you know your public loves you even if you can't get that particular piece of software to do what you'd like. Personally, I never get much attention when I'm installing software, but then maybe I don't do it with enough verve and flair.

  5. Re:Im not sure I understand.. by Red+Alastor · · Score: 4, Informative

    The price you pay covers 6 (or 12 depending on which plan) of support and updates. Past this period, you can still download software you were allowed to but not new software.

    Support is quite good. As opposed to almost any other company I know, they speak English and Hacker (Unix meaning off the word) not corporate (or maybe they know that language, I never initiated a conversation in it). And support also covers fixing any bug that prevents your apps from running if they were garanteed to work.

    --
    Slashdot anagrams to "Sad Sloth"
  6. Re:City of Villains by Nastard · · Score: 4, Funny
    Personally, I never get much attention when I'm installing software, but then maybe I don't do it with enough verve and flair.

    I recommend a minimum of eight pieces of flair.
  7. Re:Seriously--does anyone plan on using this? by CatOne · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Seriously?

    What do you mean? Lots of people use Macs for business, or *want* to use Macs for business. Usually (this is assuming an IT department who is reasonable, and more and more actually are), it boils down to one or two business critical applications that are Windows only. Some of the most common ones are:

    * Microsoft Outlook (because Entourage is 98% of the way there... and that's not 100%)
    * Microsoft Project
    * Microsoft Visio
    * Microsoft Access (and custom databases that have become "business critical"
    * Internet Explorer 6 (with all its bastardized VBScript and .NUT client-side proprietary extensions)
    * CAD tools (Pro/E, SolidWorks, etc).

    VM solutions like Parallels (and upcoming VMWare workstation) can do this, as can Boot Camp. But Crossover is lighter weight and works well also. Crossover is a very interesting and exciting option.

    Again, this is predicated on whether IT permits it. I find IT departments are mostly divided into a couple groups:

    * IT feels their job is to dictate technology -- they choose what's most convenient for them to control and manage, and put IT's needs in front of the users needs (i.e. users who want to run Linux or OS X on the desktop must fight and scratch and are sometimes locked out of the network altogether). CrossOver is no use here, nor is Parallels -- you offend the director of IT because he'll fall out of his l337 company with his Microsoft sales rep, and will also offend his staff of 43 MSCEs that are necessary to manage one Exchange instance ;-)

    * IT who feels IT's job is to serve the needs of the business... basically they are willing to deploy and support solutions that have business value (I even heard one CIO say he let users use Macs because it was a competitive differentator when hiring... if a user could run a Mac all day at work he got more productivity out of them... this company ships tens of millions of DVDs to people in the mail every year... they're progressive ;-)

    Crossover is perfect for the second case.

  8. Actual facts by gjh · · Score: 5, Informative

    It's very nicely put together. Some thoughts...

    • Software installation and allocation to WINE Bottles is very easy and so on, a nice experience
    • It does not go as far as it might to give a 'Mac-like' experience, for example running apps do not get their own dock icons - but I suppose there would be little practical value since they don't have their own screen-top menus
    • It uses X11 under the hood and mostly hides this. It asks you for the Apple installed disk to grab quartz-wm at install time, but Apple's actual X11 build is not used and presumably what does run runs on different ports
    • It avoids silly things like anti-aliasing, so that Mac users can be happy knowing that "Windows apps are ugly". Having said that, all the important stuff like font metrics is spot on.

    In truth my only regrets were some crashes in Office 2003. It seemed to be unstable in the same ways that the linux version was when I last used it a couple of years ago - i.e. you will have a great experience if you stick to Office 2000, but newer stuff might come unstuck. In the end then - I hope every Mac user goes out and buys this, because at the price it is offered it is a bargain... but CodeWeavers are going to need a lot of unit sales to increase their WINE contributions.