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Wine 1.2 Released
David Gerard writes "Stuck with that one Windows app you can't get rid of? Rejoice — Wine 1.2 is officially released! Apart from running pretty much any Windows application on Unix better than 1.0 (from 2008), major new features include 64-bit support, bi-directional text, and translation into thirty languages. And, of course, DirectX 9 is well-supported and DirectX 10 is getting better. Packages should hit the distros over the weekend, or you can get the source now."
DirectX 10 is getting better.
I wish someone would port Wine to WindowsXP.
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Long ago when I first switched to Linux I made the decision that I would not run a dual boot environment and would instead use Wine to run my apps I NEEDED from Windows on my Linux machine.
Fast forward six months from that switch, I removed the NEEDED applications because I found better ones (hello GnuCash) and haven't used a Windows application or required Wine since then, that was almost 3 or 4 years ago now when I fully switched my desktop to Linux.
I think Wine needs a usability team. Some kind of gui/tooling to make things easier for newbies to Wine.
New things are always on the horizon
Yeah! Something with a GUI front end, and separate windows for each program... and a start menu. Oh, wait.
Scientists point out problems, engineers fix them
altslashdot.org: The future of slashdot.
IE 7 and 8 are not usable, but that has nothing to do with Wine.
There's no -1 for "I don't get it."
I saw recently that a fix went in to make shadows work correctly in SC2. I guess that probably means it works ok.
Climate Progress - Hell and High Water
I've used Wine for a long time. I've modified its source-code several times to make my apps run and I'm usually around the winehq.org forums. .NET crap, which is ruining the industry for everyone. The only issues I found Wine to have were related to sound. Progressively, I fixed those and got the best out of my Wine installations. Heck, when I cross-compile, I always test my apps in Wine and verify that they are 1:1 with Windows. I constantly run different games in Wine and sometimes with better performance than my windows peers.
I can say with a high degree of confidence that it runs most applications flawlessly. Of course, you need to remove many of the new
Occasionally, you'll have to bring out the nerd in you and do some hacking to get games to work. For instance, it was a long process for me to get Red Alert 3 to work online and via LAN. The forums helped me a lot. It was also difficult to get Age Of Empires III to run, but I did it.
I am only sorry that so many people end up bashing Wine. If they'd waste part of that time in contributing to the community, submitting patches, helping out in forums and irc, or simply stopping complaining, I think we'd be better.
Have you heard about SoylentNews?
You want Crossover.
(Buying Crossover funds Wine, by the way - half the Wine devs work for Codeweavers.)
http://rocknerd.co.uk
"I am only sorry that so many people end up bashing Wine."
It's because no-one complains worse than the people getting something for free.
http://rocknerd.co.uk
I do half my work using 1980s DTP software (Ventura GEM). Runs in XP fine full screen in glorious VGA resolution. Prints to Postscript which my HP laser can print as-is; and I can convert to to PDF if I need to exchange files with anyone.
Old software doesn't wear out; it just gets faster as hardware gets exponentially more powerful.
But I will look at running it under Wine, probably a safer bet in the long term than hoping Microsoft doesn't break it.
Wine, and in particular Wine fanboys, sell it as a sure fire way to run Windows apps on Linux. They happily point to success stories and say "See you can ditch Windows, just run your stuff in Wine! Look how well Office runs!" People then try it and discover three things:
1) It is complex as all get out. You don't just go and start Wine and run a Windows installer to put your application on. No, it is way fucking complex in many cases. Even people familiar with virtualization are amazed at how complex it gets.
2) It works poorly in many cases. A "working" app in Wine speak seems to mean "runs". It may have massive glitches. Most people take working to mean "Works fully with some minor glitches." Even so of the top apps have some rather noticeable glitches.
3) Plenty of stuff doesn't work at all, and there's no readily apparent reason. It just fails.
For example I was trying to move to a Linux desktop at work, to learn more about Linux and its working in our setup. However, being work, I had to be able to get everything done. So I tried Linux AV software and it was crap, couldn't do what I needed to do. I went and asked our Linux head if he'd be willing to help see if Wine could run Sony Vegas. He said sure. After 3 days of fairly intense work and research, he said no, he could find no way to make it run. He was pretty good too, he didn't blow this off he really tried.
So that's why people get mad. Wine shouldn't be marketed as a Windows compatibility layer. Wine is more of an experimental program that can help some Windows software run sometimes. If you want to get your hands dirty and mess around with some complex stuff, maybe it can make things happen. However it is not a friendly compatibility layer that you install and suddenly Windows apps can be run just like on Windows with ease.
People get mad because it is oversold, and because it is something they want. They hear "Windows on Linux," and get all excited. They can use Linux now and not have to sacrifice their computer experience. Then they try it and find no, they can't actually and get real angry.
I'd prefer to bash Wine because you get a better idea of whats going on when you run it from the terminal.
*ducks*