Public Betas For CrossOver Mac and Linux

Jeremy White writes, "I am happy to announce that we have put up a new version of our public beta of CrossOver Mac as well as an equivalent public beta of CrossOver Linux. For Mac users, this release includes fixes to Internet Explorer, fixes for many cases where programs would crash when run (e.g. Microsoft Office 2000 and similar older applications), fixes for Outlook 2003, and a range of other improvements. For Linux users, the big highlights are support for World of Warcraft and many Steam based games (including Half Life 2 and Counterstrike), as well as support for Outlook 2003. Version 6 also represents a major improvement in the core of Wine since version 5 of CrossOver, so you may be pleasantly surprised as you try running unsupported applications."

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Re:I don't know why people bother...

[MustardMan]

Uh, because parallels has the extra overhead of running windows XP, doesn't support 3d acceleration, and uses up more hard drive space? Just a thought.

Disclaimer: I use and enjoy parallels, but there is plenty of room for alternative approaches.

Re:Hmmm

[petard]

So, if I have a Windows license (and I do), what would be the incentive to go with something like Crossover, when I can use VMWare or Xen for zero cost, and not worry about compatibility of any of my applications?

Windows Activation. When you install a Windows XP or later OS on a new machine, you have to activate it. The activation will fail, and you'll have to call MS and ask them real nice to let you activate it anyway.

Furthermore, if your windows license is OEM, MS may not let you move it to a different machine. So you need to purchase a new Windows license for your new virtual machines.

Re:Valve's anti-cheat system

[dwandy]

Well, *apparently* you can get banned [infernix.net] from WoW and no amount of esplainin' helped.
...(at least the last time I read what was there they maintained that they were getting kicked off for running under wine...it's too long-a-read to see if that's changed.)

Re:Intel Mac Only

[Anonymous Coward]

Come on, what do you expect? Of course it won't work on G4's. Wine stands for Wine Is Not an Emulator.

Re:I have to ask...

[jrcamp]

Because WINE is not an emulator. It's an implementation of the win32 API. Windows binaries are x86 so they have to run on an x86 platform if they are to run natively. That's why you can run 3D games with it--there's no overhead involved so they can run at their native speeds.

Re:linux / wine noob question, pls help

[Drooling Iguana]

You could check the Wine Application Database [winehq.org] and see if it's listed. Not sure if Crossover has an equivalent.

Re:Valve's anti-cheat system

[WilliamSChips]

You can only get banned from Valve by an automated system. There's only been one mistake in the history of the VAC and that was an MP3 player that was part of a lot of cheats. It was fixed.

Re:Skype

[Anonymous Coward]

I've run the Windows version of Skype on Ubuntu under Crossover 5.x. It worked, but not 100% reliably.

Re:Intel Mac Only

[WilliamSChips]

WINE doesn't work on PowerPC machines because WINE doesn't translate instructions, only function calls.

Re:Hmmm

[petard]

It can only be installed one place at a time. If it's a retail license, they'll let you move the license, though you will likely have to call to activate. If it's an OEM license, I'm not sure. They may or may not let you move it; I don't remember the terms of that license well enough to say.

So the upshot is, if you have a retail license and want to install it in a VM on Linux and will uninstall the standalone install, then no, you don't need two copies. If you want to have it installed in a VM and on bare hardware at the same time then you definitely do need two copies.

If you have an OEM copy and want to move it to a VM, contact Microsoft or reread your license agreement carefully to see if it can be moved.

Re:linux / wine noob question, pls help

[MPolo]

Yes, Crossover Office also has an application database [codeweavers.com], although it's called a "Compatibility Center".

running Windows on architectures other than Intel

[falconwolf]

Windows USED to run on other architectures, but nobody cared, so it was dropped.

Also Windows apps weren't supported on other systems. I got a DEC Alpha running NT 4 and the only commercial app I was able to install was Borland C++ Powerbuilder. I found it weird I got more shareware apps installed than commercial apps.

Falcon

My Experience

[99BottlesOfBeerInMyF]

So have a brand new Intel-based MacBook work gave me, partly so I can consolidate my workstations. The number one Windows program I need to run is Adobe Framemaker. My options seem to be CrossOver and Parallels. Crossover, at first blush, looks ideal for me, since I don't want the overhead of a full Windows install, or the expense of another Windows license (sure it's the company's money, but I have stock options to think of). Also, Framemaker is on the very short list of programs actually supported on the mac version.

So I download both solutions as trials and set them up, or try to. You see, Crossover claims support for Framemaker 7.1, but Adobe only sells version 7.2 these days. Well, will that really make a difference? Apparently so. It fails to install in a bottle designed for Framemaker 7.1. It fails to install in generic bottle for either Win98 or WinXP. The support forums don't have any info and no one else seems to have tried this yet. I'd submit my own comment there, but who wants to make an account for software they aren't even going to use?

Option two was Parallels which seems to be working just fine, on the other hand. Maybe once Crossover is out of beta I'll give it another try, but my brief trial does not fill me with hope. Oh, and another thing, Crossover seems a bit too intrusive for me. Even after I quit it, a process was left running that brought up a dialogue whenever I inserted a Windows CDROM (until I killed it). For some reason that sort of thing really bugs me.

Re:Umm...

[aesiamun]

Ok...then I have a question. Why run WOW in Wine on a Mac when there is a completely full working Mac version on the discs that you got when you purchased it?

You're not going to get better performance. I still boot to windows just for WOW...because the macbook has terribly limited video memory in OSX...*sighs*