Thursday, April 29, 2010

Codeweavers CrossOver Mac Run Windows apps minus Windows

By Cliff Joseph

Like many Mac users, I use Apples Boot Camp to switch between the Mac OS and Windows as required. However, I also usevirtualization tools - Parallels Desktop and VMWare Fusion - which have the added convenience of allowing you to run Mac and Windows programs side-by-side.

Codeweavers CrossOver
 
Codeweavers CrossOver: run PC games on a Mac
The only drawback with virtualization technology is that it cant provide the same performance as running Windows software natively, as Boot Camp does. This is especially important when it comes to demanding programs such as 3D games. And, of course, the dual-boot and virtualisation approaches both require you to install a full copy of Windows.
Codeweavers CrossOver now provides a third alternative for running Windows software on a Mac – and one that doesnt require a copy of Windows. CrossOver is actually a paid-for version of the open-source Wine project, which provides technical support and a new graphical interface in return for the £26 licence fee.
There are two versions of CrossOver available. CrossOver Mac is designed for running general productivity apps such as Microsoft Office, while CrossOver Games focuses on running entertainment software.

Codeweavers CrossOver
There are separate versions of general apps (left) and games
I asked Codeweavers for more detailed information about the differences between the two versions, and its illuminating response was: “CrossOver Mac runs Windows applications while CrossOver Games runs Windows games."
Regardless of finer technical details, the two versions work in a very similar fashion. To install the program you simply download the CrossOver disk image file from the Codeweavers web site, open it, and then drag and drop the CrossOver application onto your hard disk.
Codeweavers CrossOver
Prime CrossOver with the name of the app you want to install
When you launch CrossOver it presents you with a simple Welcome screen that prompts you to insert the installer disk for the Windows program that you want to install. Its also possible to install software that youve downloaded from the Internet as long as youve got the full installer required for that piece of software.
Rather than simply copying the program files onto your Macs hard disk, CrossOver creates a "bottle" – a file that Codeweavers describes as a "virtual Windows environment" – and then installs the program into it. The bottle contains elements – such as a virtual Windows registry – that, in effect, fool the program into thinking that its running on Windows.
This approach can be very effective – but only if CrossOver is compatible with the specific Windows programs that you want to use. Codeweavers maintains a compatibility database that rates hundreds of Windows apps according to a rather convoluted system of "medals". For instance, my copy of Microsoft Publisher 2003 gets a gold medal rating, which means that it should run well enough for everyday use.

Codeweavers CrossOver
 
Check for app compatibility first
However, Word 2003 and Excel 2003 only get a silver medal - more or less OK, but there may be occasional bugs - while the more recent Microsoft Office 2007 just gets a bronze. The database also lists a large number of programs as "untested" or "known not to work".
I tested the Office 2003 and Office 2007 suites, and those programs did run well – more smoothly, in fact, than using either Parallels or Fusion. CrossOver even makes Windows programs look a bit more Mac-like by adding a new title bar complete with the Macs candy-coloured control buttons.

Codeweavers CrossOver
 
Windows apps get it little of the OS X look & feel
However, the situation wasn’t quite so rosy when I tried CrossOver Games. I normally test PCs by checking their performance with Far Cry 2, but that falls into the doesnt work category. My current favourite game is Dragon Age: Origins - it gets a silver medal for compatibility, but I repeatedly got an error message when attempting to install it from disk. I found a fellow sufferer on the Codeweaver support forums who had encountered the same error message, but theres no word of a solution yet.
Another old favourite is Guild Wars, which also gets a silver rating. This installed easily and was quite playable on a MacBook, although the frame rate under CrossOver was only about half of what we got when running the same game under Boot Camp.

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Tuesday, April 27, 2010

Full Steam ahead with CrossOver Games 9.0 beta

From Jeremy White's Blog :
Software guys are often accused of wanting to spend too much time polishing their beloved programs. I'm very guilty of that myself, and that's doubly hard because of our work on Wine. While Wine is amazing, it's not perfect, so there is a challenging balance in deciding that we've made enough progress to justify a release. Of course, if you let us software guys decide, we'll take forever and never ship anything.
Luckily for our gaming customers, Valve has forced our hand. That is, they have released an entirely rewritten version of Steam today. And, unfortunately, it does not work at all in our existing CrossOver Games releases. And since Steam is a large part of what our customers use CrossOver Games for, we've been forced to rush out a release to provide that support. We've been in a mad scramble this past month; Wine did not run the new GUI at all. We finally fixed it last week, just in time for the production launch by Valve.

So I am happy to announce that we're making a beta version of our CrossOver Games 9.0 release available today. We're feeling pretty good about it; it runs the new Steam GUI, and quite a few games work very nicely. However, we really haven't had much time to test it or shake out any problems. So we really recommend it only for customers that need to use the new Steam GUI.
We hope to ship the 'real' 9.0 very quickly; if you're not using Steam, please give us a bit more time for that picky polish.

Cheers,
Jeremy

Saturday, April 24, 2010

CodeWeavers Releases Crossover Office 9.0.1 for MAC and Linux

SAINT PAUL, Minn. (April 23, 2010) -- CodeWeavers, Inc., a leading developer of software products that turn Mac OS X and Linux into Windows-compatible operating systems, today announced the release of CrossOver 9.0.1 for both Mac and Linux. CrossOver allows Windows software to be used on Mac and Linux PCs without the need for a Windows operating system license.
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 Linux

9.0.1 CrossOver Linux
  • CrossOver Changes:
    • Certain bottles never stopped initializing; now they start up properly.
    • Renamed downloaded installer files so that you can tell what they are
    • Fixed demo registration on Mandriva 2010
    • Fixed a bug with accessing very old CrossOver bottles
    • Fixed auto-opening of c4p files (previously the file-type association was broken.)
    • A few minor cosmetic and behavior changes in the CrossOver Installer.
  • Application support improvements:
    • Fixed file importation of .qif files into Quicken 2010
    • Fixed serious performance problems for certain large Quicken datafiles
    • Fixed an Outlook during connection to an Exchange server
    • Fixed an Outlook 2003 printing crash
    • Fixed a variety of other Outlook freezes and crashes
    • Improved Office 2003 service pack installation
    • Fixed a crash in Access 2000; this app should be usable again.
    • Fixed HTML editing in Outlook 2003
    • Fixed a crash in IE7 when 'help' was selected
    • Fixed printing in IE7
    • Fixed a crash associated with the JVM in IE6
    • Fixed a crash in Visio 2003 and 2007
    • Fixed server connections in Architecture 7.5 (requires reinstall)

Change Log For CrossOver Mac

9.0.1 CrossOver Mac
  • CrossOver Changes:
    • Certain bottles never stopped initializing; now they start up properly.
    • Renamed downloaded installer files so that you can tell what they are
    • Fixed a bug with accessing very old CrossOver bottles
    • Fixed handling of custom c4p files on OSX Tiger
    • Fixed auto-opening of c4p files (previously the file-type association was broken.)
    • A few minor cosmetic and behavior changes in the CrossOver Installer.
  • Application support improvements:
    • Fixed file importation of .qif files into Quicken 2010
    • Fixed serious performance problems for certain large Quicken datafiles
    • Fixed an Outlook during connection to an Exchange server
    • Fixed an Outlook 2003 printing crash
    • Fixed a variety of other Outlook freezes and crashes
    • Improved Office 2003 service pack installation
    • Fixed a crash in Access 2000; this app should be usable again.
    • Fixed HTML editing in Outlook 2003
    • Fixed a crash in IE7 when 'help' was selected
    • Fixed printing in IE7
    • Fixed a crash associated with the JVM in IE6
    • Fixed a crash in Visio 2003 and 2007
    • Fixed server connections in Architecture 7.5 (requires reinstall)

CrossOver 9.0 Linux Review A finely packaged Wine

Introduction to Wine and CrossOver

One of the most commonly cited causes for the dual-boot syndrome is the lack of availability of for the Linux OS. Open source developers have been hard at work bringing Linux applications to Windows, however getting Windows applications on Linux is a far harder task. Since a large number of Windows application are not open source, Linux developers are helpless in porting them to their favorite platform.
Linux's acceptance as a viable desktop OS, is then reliant on the availability of key application for it, and companies won’t be willing to port their applications to Linux till until enough people adopt a Linux desktop. This is the reason why it is easier to find applications such as MATLAB, Pro/Engineer, and Maya for Linux, as they users of such software have a larger presence on Linux.
If you are familiar with Linux, you will most probably be aware of Wine (a recursive acronym for WINE Is Not an Emulator), the non-emulator which allows you to run Windows application on Linux. Wine is not an emulator, it instead simply adds the ability to run Windows applications -- albeit partially -- to Linux, by implementing the Windows API for Linux. CrossOver by Codeweavers is a commercial supported version of Wine that allows running of Windows application on Linux or Macintosh. Best of all, Codeweavers, the company behind CrossOver, contributes back to the Wine project.
CrossOver Linux provides many advantages over Wine, which we shall cover in this review, and they make it worthy investment. If you have ever used Wine and found it worthy of your support, one way would be to buy a license for CrossOver, which will give you a brilliant product in addition to the satisfaction of contributing to the Wine project.

CrossOver As a GUI for Wine

CrossOver Wine GUI
Over the years, Wine has improved in performance and compatibility, and while getting an application to run is still a hit and miss affair, Wine is not stable enough that one can consider doing serious work on an application if it is supported. However, for many people getting an unsupported windows application to run with Wine is a daunting task, one that may require some amount of hacking. Not somethin, a new Linux user will find very alluring.
Here CrossOver solves the problem in two ways, firstly, it run a greater number of the applications that are popular, and secondly, it makes it simpler to run application which are not supported out of the box.
Many application expect certain libraries and dlls to be present on your system, which may be reasonable expectations from a Windows system, but might be absent in Wine / CrossOver. Installing Microsoft Office 2007 using Wine, for example, requires the presence of many original Windows dlls and fonts for which you need to install a number of runtime packages and libraries. None of this is obvious, and installing this manually would require some research and patience.
CrossOver on the other hand comes with a wizard interface that guides you through installing your copy of Microsoft Office, Photoshop, Quicktime, etc, from its installation CD or file. It even ensures that any files required to run that particular Windows application are installed, and if not, it downloads and installs them for you.
The list of officially supported applications is still rather limited, and contains only some of the most requested, and popular applications, however this time around, with CrossOver 9.0 Codeweavers have taken advantage of their large community of users, who are willing to experiment and hack up "recipes" for installing unsupported applications. As more users try out applications and submit the tricks needed to make them work, the application will be able to guide users through installing a growing number of applications without needing to have any knowledge of what goes on in the background.

Bottling

Now comes a feature of Codeweavers CrossOver that even Windows doesn't have: Bottles.
Windows is a fragile mess of dll dependencies, and Wine / CrossOver is an attempt to "emulate" that mess. Since we are running application in their non-native environment, and one that they are not aware of, we have to be more accomodating.
Installing an application might result in breaking other applications, and often we may be faced with scenarios where it is necessary to run multiple versions of the same application (such as Internet Explorer) on your computer. For this CrossOver has a feature called Bottles.
A Bottle is essentially a virtual Windows environment in which applications can be installed. With CrossOver, you can create multiple bottles running different versions of Windows from Windows 98, Windows 2000, Windows XP and Windows Vista. Think of this like the compatibility mode setting available in Windows, which allows running of applications designed for older versions of Windows. You can specify which version of Windows CrossOver will mimic while running your application.
Bottles are an important feature of CrossOver
By default when you are installing applications using the CrossOver Software Installer, it will create a new bottle for every new application that is installed; however you can manually override the bottle that should be used.
What this means is, that you can have Internet Explorer 6, Internet Explorer 7, and Internet Explorer 8 all installed on the same computer, and run them at the same time! Since they will be in different bottles they will not be aware of each other’s existence. In fact, you can have multiple copies of a bottle so you could test the application under different conditions. For instance, you can have one bottle with Flash 10 installed and another with Flash 10.1 installed.
It is possible to have the same functionality in Wine, however doing so is not as simple. With Wine using "bottles" (or "prefixes" as they are known for Wine) requires constant fuddling around with the command line, and are less powerful and flexible. Although GUI tools such as Q4Wine do exist to simplify the task.
You might wonder what the benefit of this might be -- why the hell would someone want to install Internet Explorer, (especially Internet Explorer 6) on a perfectly good Linux machine. The fact is, this might not be matter of "want" but of "need". For someone who is a web developer, running Linux, it is surely annoying to need to reboot your computer, or install Windows in a Virtual Machine every time you need to test how a website works for those using Internet Explorer on Windows. Not only is it time consuming to do so, it requires that you obtain a Windows License. While Microsoft does provide copies of VMs with different version of IE installed, they are time limited versions and not exactly friendly to install in Linux.
Bottles allow you to isolate changes very well, so if anything goes wrong, you can always delete the bottle and start again, without affecting applications installed in other bottles. You can open a bottle for testing and then delete it off once you are done.
Since CrossOver can be run from the command line and allows launching Windows exes by simply clicking on then, you need to set a default bottle which will be used in such instances. CrossOver has a rich collection of command line options, so for those who prefer that route the option is there.
A brilliant functionality CrossOver provides for bottles is that they can be packaged into a convenient archive which includes all the settings and installed applications. This is especially useful if you want to package all your bottles for reinstalling after a reformat, or moving to a different computer, for distributing an installed application to others, or simply for backup. An even better option for system administrators is available in the professional version of CrossOver which allows one to create a Linux rpm / deb package of the bottle applications! This way a system administrator can customize and configure a Windows application which doesn't run out-of-the-box, and simply distribute the rpm. Such rpms will be usable even with a Standard version of CrossOver, of course, as long as you have the requisite number of licenses for the application.
Another interesting option present in the professional version of CrossOver is the ability to have "managed bottles" which means that an application can be installed once by an admin, and shared with all users on the system, thereby saving space. This managed bottle can be used and modified by any user on the system while saving only the changes in their own accounts.

Integration

CrossOver Office 2007
There is no doubt that using something like CrossOver or Wine will not give as stable and reliable performance as running the same application on a VM, however the kind of integration that one gets from running an application natively is something that VMs are only now inching towards.
Simple actions such as handling file associations, dragging dropping, copy paste are problematic when dealing with a VM. With Wine or CrossOver, this is not an issue, since both applications are running on the same system.
That said, there are bound to be problems in integration between Windows and Linux due to the differing paradigms. Linux file managers for example usually have a MIME-based system for file associations, while Windows uses file extensions.
Even so, CrossOver integrates well with the OS. Applications installed in the system neatly create icons in the KDE / Gnome menu under "Windows Applications" and on the desktop. Installed applications can handle file associations and can can handle drag drop and copy paste.
Windows applications launch when double clicked (if they are supported obviously), msi installers however, do not. CrossOver can install from msi files using the Software Installer though.

Extensibility with C4 XML profiles

One of the best features added in the 9th version of CrossOver Linux has to be the new C4 (Codeweavers CrossOver Compatibility Center) profiles feature. This allows third parties to write small XML scripts which can be used to install applications which are not officially supported by Codeweavers. These XML profile files can be used to install unsupported software using the Software Installer wizard interface. These XML files can be distributed as ".c4p" files and can use used with the Software Installer.

While creating such profiles can be a daunting task for an average computer user, community created profiles for popular applications means that you may find that a growing number of applications available for installation using the wizard. In fact some of the application which are unsupported in the release of CrossOver 9.0 have c4p profiles available via the Compatibility Center. One such example is Photoshop CS3.
The profile configuration system for CrossOver is advanced enough to support application dependencies, along with pre-install and post-install actions, and detecting the application installation CD to make the installation process as smooth for the end user.
An organization using CrossOver can take advantage of this features by providing employees profiles for commonly used application which are not supported in the Software Installer. While it is much simpler to just package the application in an archive or rpm / deb installer for distributing to end users, support for profiles is present in the standard version as well, unlike support for creating rpm / deb installers, any may be used to to much the same effect.
Currently though this only an alpha feature of the software and will display a warning when you try to install any application using profiles. The profiles available right now are also limited, and don't cover many applications, they are available as examples for third parties to create their own profiles.

CrossOver support

While it is difficult to rate and review the kind of support you get with a product, considering the complex nature of the product, and the fact that it will at its best can only accomplish a limited amount of what it has set out to do. It is nonetheless possible to enumerate the options available.
Since part of what you are paying for is software support, it is important to know how much you can get. With the wide array of applications available for Windows and the multitude of versions of each, and the stream of updates which follow, it is impossible for the people at Codeweavers to provide support for all. Don't expect Codeweavers to help you install that special Kundali software that only your local CyberCafewallah sells!
If you purchase CrossOver Standard, you are eligible to receive Level 3 support, which means you will get support "for installation issues or major show stopping issues" that you encounter while running or installing a supported applications if you are using one of their "tested distributions." The support expires after 6 months, during which you will also be eligible to receive any minor (v8 to v8.1) or major (v8 to v9) upgrades. There is no way to renew support once it expires, although you can simply repurchase the software.
Users of the Professional version, are eligible for Level 2 support. It is similar to Level 3 support, however Codeweavers will entertain problems you have while using the application on an unsupported distribution. Additionally, any Level 2 problems will eventually see a fix in a future version.
Level 1 support is the support level Codeweavers gives to customers who purchase a multi-user license for over 100 people.
Other than that, Codeweavers has a huge database of applications called Codeweavers CrossOver Compatibility Center (C4). It contains details information of how well applications intall and run on CrossOver along with information about bugs, tips and tricks for running / installing the applications, screenshots, and even forums for each applications.
Here registered members can also vote for which application they would like to see running on CrossOver, so that Codeweavers know how to prioritize fixes. They also maintain ranks of application based on how well they run, or voted, or pledges etc.
Pledges are another way of measuring the priority of an application. Pledges allow registered members to, in a way, put their money where their mouth is and declare how may licenses of CrossOver they will be willing to purchase, if the application they are pledging for is supported.
Overall, Codeweavers has found an excellent way to contribute to open source development, and towards increasing Linux adoption while still managing to make money. While the 6 month support might seem a little less, in the kind of dynamic situation that Wine is, it is to be expected. A CrossOver license in the end, is not that expensive. being a mere $39.95 (around Rs. 1900) for the standard, and $69.95 (around Rs. 3200) for Professional, and will discounts available for bulk purchases.

Conclusion

CrossOver is an impressive solution for running Windows applications on Linux, although it is far from perfect. The very premise of the application -- which is to be able to run all Windows applications flawlessly -- is something which it is still far from accomplishing at present. While this may be disappointing to some, it is something that CrossOver states very clearly. They make no false or exaggerated claims of what their application can accomplish.
Whatever CrossOver does try to accomplish, is something which is in within the purview of Wine as well. While CrossOver is a superset of Wine, it is worthwhile to note what elements it adds to its counterpart and then decide whether those are worth paying for.
Over and above being simply allowing Windows applications to run, CrossOver acts as a good bridge between the differing paradigms of Windows and Linux, with support for creating Linux packages out of Windows applications, and distributing them as easily, by creating virtual bottles, and automatically installing dependencies of applications. For those coming fresh from a Windows environment, many will be unable to figure out the often confusing steps required to run Windows applications.
For anyone needing a supported version of Wine, or a simple-to-use interface for installing and managing Windows applications, CrossOver if your best bet. If you wish to support Wine development, then any money spent on Codeweavers products is sure to end up promoting the development of Wine. If there are applications you need to run on Wine which aren't supported yet, pledging and voting for them is a good way of directing the development of Wine.
If however you need to run Windows applications on Linux and are not bothered by the added complexity of the commandline tools for configuring and running Windows applications, and are comfortable with installing 3rd party application to manage your installed applications and prefixes, you might be better off with the free open source Wine. Even so, CrossOver might feel like a worthy cause for investment to some; as it is a company which makes money while promoting a good cause and contributing to open source.
Part 2
Part 3

How to switch your small or home office to Linux

By Graham Morrison

With Linux and free software making a name for itself in the world of big business, many people are testing the feasibility of switching small and home office software to their open source equivalents.
Regardless of how you feel about the Linux desktop, this is one area in which Linux can have a real impact, both financially and productively, and any small or home office has the potential to be transformed by just switching one application or two to their open source equivalents.
This is traditionally the domain of Microsoft, a costly and sometimes frustrating environment where you have to constantly keep on top of updates, patches and the latest versions to stay in the loop. Free software offers an escape from this cycle, and more importantly, an alternative.
Linux and free software can offer a breath of fresh air, and you don't even have to jump feet-first into a new operating system: cross-platform open source applications enable you try the alternatives before you make the big switch.

Most users are going to find that the free versions of the software they're used to are very similar in both design and functionality, and over the course of the following pages, we list the most important and try to highlight any gotchas and considerations along the way.
It's a sign of how successful free software has become that we could have filled these pages with various alternatives for many other common tasks and applications, but we wanted to go into enough depth that prospective users will feel confident enough to make the switch, or discuss the potential with the people who make the decisions.
How we learned to stop spending and love free software
The great thing about open source software is that, no matter what platform you're using, if an application is popular enough it will have been ported to your system.
Free software stalwarts like OpenOffice.org, Firefox and Gimp all work just as well on the Windows platform as they do on Linux. This means that even if jumping to Linux seems like an intimidating prospect to begin with, you can safely swap an application or two in your regular software suite to begin with, and see how things go over a period of weeks.
As your confidence builds, you could consider replacing another application, and perhaps another, until you realise that maybe Linux isn't the leap into the unknown that it used to be.
The world of the small office seems to be dominated by products from Microsoft and Adobe, neither of which have made a serious effort to port their heavyweight products to the Linux desktop. This is where open source developers have tried their hardest to catch up, building free alternatives to most of the commercial offerings from both companies.
Free software is full of alternatives, because developers like choice. And because the code that's used to create this software is open, once one application has invented a new kind of wheel, you often find its open source competitors catching up and providing many of the same features.
Many are also very receptive to feature requests and personal emails, which is something that would never happen with either Adobe or Microsoft. And of course, if you or your colleagues have the necessary coding skills, you can change things yourself and make a contribution to the community.
A point you'll find we make several times over the following pages is that while there may not always be total parity with the applications you're used to in the proprietary world, in the vast majority of cases this tiny shortfall won't make a difference. There are very few office users who touch these advanced features, and if you're one of the minority of users who use the full feature-set of of an application such as Microsoft Office, we've got a solution that will enable you to keep your old applications on Linux.

Running Windows apps on Linux
If you do switch your office to Linux, there are still two ways to run legitimate Windows software. The first is Wine, an application that lets you run Windows executables from your Linux desktop. It will let you run applications like Quicken and older versions of Office without difficulty, and newer versions can be made to work if you don't mind a little tinkering.

There's also a commercial Wine solution called CrossOver Office. This will run Microsoft's latest Office suite, and the money you pay for CrossOver will be rolled back into open source development. The best bit is that you won't need a licence for the operating system, only the software you use.
We're getting ahead of ouseselves a little here: while it's good to know that things will still work, you'll find that maintaining Windows compatibility becomes less of an issue as you get used to the new set of tools that Linux offers.

Full Article