Wine, Crossover Office, and Cedega
WATER OR WINE?
If you need to make a Windows application run on Linux, there is no better way than Wine. We investigated the free and commercial Wine variants to see how they bear up under real-life conditions.
In 1993, Sun Microsystems developed a small tool designed to let users run Windows applications in Solaris out of the box – that is, without needing to port the applications first. Just a few months later, the first attempt was made to make the tool run on BSD and Linux, and this step marks the birth of what has now become known as the Wine project. The name Wine, an acronym in typical GNU tradition, stands for “Wine is not an Emulator.” And Wine [1] really isn’t an emulator in the traditional sense. The tool neither emulates a different kind of CPU, nor, strictly speaking, an operating system. Instead Wine inserts itself as a translation layer between Linux and the Windows application the user wants to run. It intercepts any Windows API calls made by the application and attempts to convert them to equivalent Unix and X11 calls. From a technical point of view, Wine is a loader, which loads and
launches Windows programs, and a suite of libraries that translate or emulate Windows API calls.
Buy this article as PDF
(incl. VAT)
Buy Linux Magazine
Subscribe to our Linux Newsletters
Find Linux and Open Source Jobs
Subscribe to our ADMIN Newsletters
Support Our Work
Linux Magazine content is made possible with support from readers like you. Please consider contributing when you’ve found an article to be beneficial.
News
-
Fedora KDE Approved as an Official Spin
If you prefer the Plasma desktop environment and the Fedora distribution, you're in luck because there's now an official spin that is listed on the same level as the Fedora Workstation edition.
-
New Steam Client Ups the Ante for Linux
The latest release from Steam has some pretty cool tricks up its sleeve.
-
Gnome OS Transitioning Toward a General-Purpose Distro
If you're looking for the perfectly vanilla take on the Gnome desktop, Gnome OS might be for you.
-
Fedora 41 Released with New Features
If you're a Fedora fan or just looking for a Linux distribution to help you migrate from Windows, Fedora 41 might be just the ticket.
-
AlmaLinux OS Kitten 10 Gives Power Users a Sneak Preview
If you're looking to kick the tires of AlmaLinux's upstream version, the developers have a purrfect solution.
-
Gnome 47.1 Released with a Few Fixes
The latest release of the Gnome desktop is all about fixing a few nagging issues and not about bringing new features into the mix.
-
System76 Unveils an Ampere-Powered Thelio Desktop
If you're looking for a new desktop system for developing autonomous driving and software-defined vehicle solutions. System76 has you covered.
-
VirtualBox 7.1.4 Includes Initial Support for Linux kernel 6.12
The latest version of VirtualBox has arrived and it not only adds initial support for kernel 6.12 but another feature that will make using the virtual machine tool much easier.
-
New Slimbook EVO with Raw AMD Ryzen Power
If you're looking for serious power in a 14" ultrabook that is powered by Linux, Slimbook has just the thing for you.
-
The Gnome Foundation Struggling to Stay Afloat
The foundation behind the Gnome desktop environment is having to go through some serious belt-tightening due to continued financial problems.