Showing posts with label windows software. Show all posts
Showing posts with label windows software. Show all posts

Monday, June 8, 2015

Running Windows Applications On A Mac Without Windows CrossOver 14.1.3 Review

Running Windows applications on Linux and Mac systems has come a long way. I remember doing virtual machines, like QEMU, and VirtualBox, running a guest in Vista or XP, and while it does run as expected, the overhead costs of running a whole operating system in a VM environment can be big (I still do use these programs, particularly VBox for development purposes).

Around 2004-2007ish, I’ve was doing some application testings for a little program named WINE (I also have a friend, Tom Wickline, of Wine Reviews, who incidentally was the indirect reason why I created this blog in the first place (we did a review of PlayOnLinux in the past together, and it was so much fun, that I created this blog out of a whim). No, WINE is not a alcoholic drink, but instead it is rather a program that emulates different Windows APIs in linux and mac systems. It was also a challenge to compile for beginners too (I do not compile in mainstream linux OSes in the past but rather in smaller hobbyist type Linuxes like Alinux/PeanutLinux or PCLinuxOS). Real life happened though, so I had to give up this hobby.

The advantage of running WINE over Virtual Machine solutions is no overhead costs and the application runs at particularly native speeds. The disadvantage of running WINE is that not all programs run (Windows has a lot of APIs under the hood, and WINE doesn’t implement all of them).

In this particular article, I am running CrossOver 14.1.3 for Mac, on an early 2011 MacBook Pro (8,1) with 4GB of RAM and Intel HD 3000 Graphics (384MB Shared Memory Display).

Also for this particular experiment, I am installing a CodeWeavers supported application (Microsoft Office 2007), and two unsupported, but community supported applications (Mass Effect, and Tomb Raider 2013)

Before We Start
Before we start, let us see the levels of compatibility in these programs according to WINE compatibility levels:

Bronze – programs can install and run, with fundamental functionalities intact. However, the applications running have enough bugs that CodeWeavers advises running them with caution (save early and often).

Silver – programs can install and run well enough to be usable. There are however bugs that are found to let the program run flawlessly.

Gold – programs can install and run as you would expect if you are running Windows.

A further level of support for CodeWeavers is officially supported. That means if your application is in the list of officially supported applications, CodeWeavers is dedicated to bring up the level of compatibility higher (for example, supported bronze applications is expected to be brought up to silver level applications of CodeWeaver in future versions of CrossOver).

Microsoft Office (Officially Supported, Bronze)
Microsoft Office is an Office Suite of Word Processor, Spreadsheet, Presentation Software, among others. It is basically the proprietary equivalent of LibreOffice/OpenOffice. As such, CrossOver supports Microsoft Office officially.

Run Microsoft Windows Applications and Games on Mac, Linux or ChromeOS save up to 20% off  CodeWeavers CrossOver+ today.
 

Saturday, April 20, 2013

CodeWeavers CrossOver for Linux and Mac discount dealcode promo code coupon code save 25% off retail today

The following promo codes are available for discounts from 10% to 25% off CodeWeavers products for Linux and Mac users. You can share these coupon codes with your friends or post them on your website, social media accounts etc. etc.


Run Microsoft Windows Applications and Games on Mac, Linux or ChromeOS save up to 20% off  CodeWeavers CrossOver+ today.
 

CrossOver 12.1.2 has been released by CodeWeavers

CodeWeavers recently released CrossOver 12.1.2 for Linux and Mac. This update has allot of new features as well as bug fixes.

About CodeWeavers Founded in 1996 as a general software consultancy, CodeWeavers focuses on the development of Wine –the core technology found in all of its CrossOver products. The company’s goal is to bring expanded market opportunities for Windows software developers by making it easier, faster and more painless to port Windows software to Linux. CodeWeavers is recognized as a leader in open-source Windows porting technology, and maintains development offices in Minnesota, the United Kingdom and elsewhere around the world. The company is privately held. For more information about CodeWeavers, log on to www.codeweavers.com.

You can use ( TOM23 ) as your dealcode in CodeWeavers store you will save 15% off CrossOver for Mac or Linux!

Change Log For CrossOver

12.1.2 CrossOver - March 1, 2013

  • Application Support:
    • Fixed a bug which caused Steam to get stuck in a loop while trying to update.
    • Fixed a bug which caused performance to suffer badly in Skyrim, and possibly some other games, on certain Linux systems.
    • Fixed a bug which caused Outlook 2010 to fail to open .xlsx, .pptx, and .docx attachments.
    • Fixed a bug which caused Quicken to fail to connect to Chase Bank online.
    • Office 2007 and 2010 will now display help topics!
  • Mac OS X:
    • We have improvements to windowing in the Mac Driver.
    • We are hopeful that changes in this version of CrossOver will mean that gaming performance will improve when Apple releases its upcoming OS X 10.8.3.

Thursday, February 14, 2013

CrossOver 12.1.1 has been released by CodeWeavers

CodeWeavers recently released CrossOver 12.1.1 for Linux and Mac. This update has allot of new features as well as bug fixes.

About CodeWeavers Founded in 1996 as a general software consultancy, CodeWeavers focuses on the development of Wine –the core technology found in all of its CrossOver products. The company’s goal is to bring expanded market opportunities for Windows software developers by making it easier, faster and more painless to port Windows software to Linux. CodeWeavers is recognized as a leader in open-source Windows porting technology, and maintains development offices in Minnesota, the United Kingdom and elsewhere around the world. The company is privately held. For more information about CodeWeavers, log on to www.codeweavers.com.

You can use ( TOM23 ) as your dealcode in CodeWeavers store you will save 15% off CrossOver for Mac or Linux!

Change Log For CrossOver

12.1.1 CrossOver - January 25, 2013
  • Mac OS X:
    • Resolved an issue where CrossOver would not register via a serial code.
12.1.0 CrossOver - January 23, 2013
  • Mac OS X:
    • We have fixed a bug where certain users who chose "Register for all users of this computer" during CrossOver's registration would receive an error claiming their bottle had "expired" and could not be used, despite the user having a valid CrossOver license.
    • We have added a preference setting allowing the user to control what CrossOver does with an unknown Windows .exe file when it is launched. Using this preference, the user can tell CrossOver either to treat the unknown .exe file as an application installer, or to simply run it.
    • CrossOver will now auto-update CrossTie files if the user has permitted auto-updates of CrossOver itself via Sparkle.
    • Fixed a bug where automatic updates via Sparkle would fail for some users on OS X 10.6.8.
    • Fixed a bug which caused several games to fail when running in fullscreen mode. Games which should be improved include StarCraft, Fallout, and, we hope, many others.
    • Fixed a bug which prevented some users from logging into World of Tanks servers.
  • Linux:
    • Running Guild Wars 2 on Ubuntu 12.04 with CrossOver 12 triggered a bug in the Compiz window manager which caused a CPU spike. We have added a registry key which can be used to disable the feature which caused Guild Wars 2 to trigger this bug, thus making the game playable with Compiz on Ubuntu.
    • Fixed an issue where the screen would go blank during the installation of some programs.
  • CrossOver:
    • CrossOver no longer ships Wine-Mono, an open-source replacement for .Net, by default. We had started doing this for CrossOver 12 but the large increase in download size and disk space usage proved too much. CrossOver can still download and install Wine-Mono as-needed.
    • We have fixed a bug which caused CrossOver to print unnecessary error messages when launching Windows applications, complaining that certain icon files could not be found.
    • New translations for Polish & Chinese (China), and a partial translation for Italian.
  • Application Support:
    • Fixed connection errors with Outlook 2007 and Outlook 2010 when connecting to hosted Exchange servers.
    • Fixed a bug which caused adding a table of contents to a Microsoft Word document to fail.
    • Fixed an issue where Quicken failed to download WebConnect and QFX files.
    • Fixed an issue where Quicken crashed viewing investment details.
    • Fixed an issue where Quicken crashed when expanding columns in reports.
    • Fixed a bug which caused clicking on a promotional offer in Quicken to crash.
    • Fixed some connection failures with Quicken 2011.
    • Fixed an issue where rotated text was garbled in PowerPoint 2010.
    • Fixed a bug selecting shapes in Visio 2010.
    • Fixed a crash on launch in HCFA-1500.


Sunday, December 16, 2012

CodeWeavers Launches CrossOver 12 For Linux And MAC

CODEWEAVERS LAUNCHES CROSSOVER 12
Update includes experimental Mac graphics driver
Internal feud leads to what Marketing Department calls the most boring name ever for a software feature. Marketing weeping tears of bitterness.

 
SAINT PAUL, Minn (December 12, 2012) — CodeWeavers, Inc., developer of CrossOver software which enables Mac and Linux users to run Windows software on their computers without the need of a Microsoft license, announced today the release of its new software, CrossOver 12.
CodeWeavers, ever aggressive on the software development front, has also included an experimental Mac graphics driver in CrossOver 12. Prosaically named The Mac Driver by the product’s development team after triumphing over Marketing in closely-watched contest of wills, the new driver will lead to smoother, faster, more native Mac performance as it’s perfected.
“Like our previous versions, CrossOver 12 gives everyone the most-affordable solution for accessing to thousands of Windows applications on Mac and Linux, because with our product, you don’t need a Windows license,” said CEO Jeremy White. “Version 12 continues our steady progress in terms of more Windows applications just working under CrossOver. If you haven’t tried CrossOver recently with your favorite Windows application, it’s worth taking the 5 minutes to give it another look.”
“But what’s even cooler,” White continued “is what our new “The Mac Driver” is going to do for our Mac porting customers. Now that we have The Mac Driver, we’ll be able to move Windows applications over to the Mac platform even more rapidly. It will help us deliver a final ported application that looks, smells, and feels more like a native Mac application than ever before.”
“It is actually a really cool feature,” confirmed Jon Parshall, CodeWeavers’ COO and head of Marketing, “But this just goes to show what happens when you let software developers name something. Next thing you know, they’ll want to rename CrossOver ‘That MacWindows Compatibility Program’ for our next release. If you’ll pardon me, I think I need a drink.”

About “The Mac Driver”
The Mac Driver supplants CrossOver’s current X11 windows driver technology. This new driver format will be an optional feature in CrossOver 12, allowing users to enable/disable it at need for specific applications. It will also allow CodeWeavers to gather useful feedback from its distributed cadre of testers in order to hone its features for future releases.
CrossOver 12 is immediately available at www.CodeWeavers.com
Wondering if your favorite Windows software title will run under CrossOver? Visit c4.codeweavers.com to find out.

About CodeWeavers
Founded in 1996 as a general software consultancy, CodeWeavers focuses on the development of Wine –the core technology found in all of its CrossOver products. The company’s goal is to bring expanded market opportunities for Windows software developers by making it easier, faster and more painless to port Windows software to Linux. CodeWeavers is recognized as a leader in open-source Windows porting technology, and maintains development offices in Minnesota, the United Kingdom and elsewhere around the world. The company is privately held. For more information about CodeWeavers, log on to www.codeweavers.com.

Change Log For CrossOver 12

12.0.0 CrossOver - December 12, 2012
  • Mac OS X:
    • CrossOver now incorporates our experimental Mac Driver. With the Mac Driver, Windows programs running under CrossOver no longer have to use the X Window System to interact with the screen and keyboard. This feature is currently experimental but will become the way all CrossOver applications work on OS X in the future.
    • CrossOver has improved font handling for fonts used by certain applications, such as National Mah Jongg League Online.
  • Linux:
    • CrossOver Linux now installs a single desktop menu item rather than a multitude of desktop menus. This approach works better with desktop systems such as GNOME 3 and Unity, which usually don't have a hierarchical desktop menu structure.
    • CrossOver now has much better support for window transparency (layered windows) when a compositing window manager is available. (When the Mac Driver is complete, this feature will be available on OS X as well). Many transparent windows will now work that did not before.
      Improvements in this area include:
      • Microsoft Office applications in the Office 2003 and Office 2007 suites will now behave properly when working with embedded pictures or graphics. Previously, rotating or resizing embedded graphics caused the screen to go temporarily black;
      • Game launchers (such as that for Guild Wars 2, for example) which use color-keying to create transparent window areas will display properly rather than being drawn with black borders;
      • ...and many more.
    • We have resolved some issues which caused printers not to appear.
  • Application Support:
    • CrossOver now supports World of Tanks.
    • CrossOver now supports Quicken 2013.
    • CrossOver now supports installation of .Net 4.0.
    • CrossOver Linux now supports Guild Wars 2. Guild Wars 2 will run for many people on CrossOver Mac, but many users will encounter persistent graphics problems. Previously, CodeWeavers had released a specially-built version of CrossOver dedicated to running Guild Wars 2. That is no longer necessary.
    • Improvements to Microsoft Office:
      • Fixed a crash displaying certain email messages in Outlook 2010.
      • Outlook 2010 will now save passwords.
      • Improved Gmail and other IMAP connections with Outlook 2007.
      • Fixed auto-discovery during account configuration for Outlook 2007.
      • PowerPoint 2010 now displays equations in slide shows.
      • PowerPoint 2010 no longer displays blank slides.
      • Fixed bugs in Word 2010 which caused the equation editor to be missing structures and formulas.
      • Fixed a bug in Word 2010 related to footnote style choices.
      • Project 2007 and 2010 can now edit dates for recurring tasks.
      • Fixed a crash in Project 2010 when filtering by resource name.
      • Visio 2002 can now search for new shapes.
      • Visio 2010 now displays properly when multiple shapes are open.
    • Star Trek Online is now faster during game updates.
    • Quicken 2009 no longer has garbled text on its buttons.
    • An issue with installation of .Net 3.5 SP1 was resolved.
    • World of Warcraft has had fixes related to patching and installation.
  • CrossOver and Wine:
    • CrossOver is now based on Wine 1.5.15.
    • CrossOver's built-in web-browser will offer to download and install ActiveX controls.
    • CrossOver now comes bundled with the Wine-Mono package, an alternative implementation of the .Net API.
    • CrossOver now implements Raw Input, the set of APIs used for mouse input by games like Guild Wars 2, World of Tanks, and others.
    • Support for printing on a variety of paper sizes has been improved.
    • DirectSound has a new resampler, for higher quality audio.
    • CrossOver now has sub-pixel font anti-aliasing.
Run Microsoft Windows Applications and Games on Mac, Linux or ChromeOS save up to 20% off  CodeWeavers CrossOver+ today.