wine birthdayarrow Mac Mac; Linux Linux arrow
It took an astonishing 15 years to complete, but Wine 1.0 has finally been released! Wine, for those of you that don’t know, serves as a way to run some Windows applications in Linux without the need for an emulator. The team has done their best to recreate the Dynamic Link Libraries (DLL’s) that are used in Windows, and it all had to be done without an ounce of code from Microsoft.

The project has been very successful, and Wine 1.0 brings thousands of Windows-only applications and games into the Linux world. Take a look at the different rating systems they’ve come up with for the different applications, along with how many programs fall into each category:

  • Platinum (1300+ programs): Applications which install and run flawlessly on an out-of-the-box Wine installation (ex. Half-Life 2, Photoshop CS2)
  • Gold (1500+ programs): Applications that work flawlessly with some special configuration (ex. World of Warcraft, Command & Conquer 3)
  • Silver (1000+ programs): Applications with minor issues that do not affect typical usage (ex. Call of Duty 4, StarCraft Brood War)

Similarly CrossOver 7.0 for Mac and Linux was released today, and it now supports Microsoft Office 2007 (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Outlook) in addition to the Adobe CS2 line of products. CrossOver 7.0, unlike Wine, will run you at least $39.95, but might be well worth it if you really want to run Office 2007.

  1. Michael DobrofskyAll-StarJune 18, 2008 at 9:38 pm

    Looking forward to Wine 2.0.

  2. Better late than never I say…kudos to those would worked on it.

  3. Michael Dobrofsky wrote:
    Looking forward to Wine 2.0.

    As am I… I wonder what computer will be like in 2023 when it comes out. ;)

    Mohan wrote:
    Better late than never I say…kudos to those would worked on it.

    They definitely deserve a lot of credit. I wonder how many lines of code they’ve written over the years?