In any business switching to Linux, there’s at least one person who’s stuck. These people need to use files from some Windows-only program, and usually have to do so by dual booting to and from Windows. Dual booting is very slow when all you really want to do is cut and paste a few screenfuls of data. Hence, here are some solutions to go around the problem.
Windows Compatibility for the Linux Desktop
About The Author
Eugenia Loli
Ex-programmer, ex-editor in chief at OSNews.com, now a visual artist/filmmaker.
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And a goodie to be found is: http://uranus.it.swin.edu.au/~jn/linux/ext2ifs.htm
The reviewer is mistaken. Crossover Office 3.0 does run MS Project
zamorins,
Near the bottom of the article, you’ll see the author reference the “new” SuSE 8.1, which came out in October of 2002. A lot of program support has come out in the past year and a half, so be sure to check codeweavers.com for programs that have been added to their supported list.
For an article posted on June 10, 2004 it seems the author is a little out of the loop with what is supported on Wine (Wine Is Not Emulation). Not only does the author make a mistake with Codeweavers application support but also the pricing. Where is CrossOver Office for $54.95 (US) that the author indicates is available in his article? CrossOver Office Standard 3.0.1 cost $39.95 (US) not $54.95 (US).
This article appears more for the business, education and government sectors than the individual user. Most home users would not be concerned about using a Linux alternative application since their are thousands to choose from. Also most home users would be happy to just use the free Wine that comes with major distributions instead of purchasing a commercial version. Exception of course would be WineX for DirectX games that the home market would have an interest. So why didn’t the author list the available packages offered for such users or at least both markets? Such as CrossOver Office Professional 3.0.1 cost $84.95 ($74.95 download version) or CrossOver Office Server Edition 2.1.0. Both of which come with the ability to purchase volume licensing to meet the needs of businesses, education institutions, government, etc.
This article appears to have so many holes to be seriously considered worthy of being posted on any News site. What it appears to be is nothing but an advertisement for Win4Lin. Instead of the author just doing a proper review of the tools he goes into great detail about installing applications with Win4Lin but excludes the other alternatives. This just clarifies that not all news sites review submitted articles prior to posting them. End result is people not familiar with such tools or Linux itself take dribble articles as being fact instead of one misguided author’s view point.
David Collier-Brown quotes a cost of 54.95, he doesn’t say US dollars. According to the quick bio on the O’Reilly site he works in Canada. So I’d assume he meant canadian dollars, wouldn’t you. (Amazing what a little research will find, huh?)
Well at current exchange rate prior to taxes being applied the price would be approx $68.60 (CAD) for CrossOver Office Standard 3.0.1. Though he stated in the first line of the introductory paragraph “In any business switching to Linux, there’s at least one person who’s stuck”. The key word is “business” which implies he is talking about the cost and methods for businesses to use Linux, not individuals. If that is the case then converting the business packages offered by Codeweavers would cost even more than what he quoted.
Anyway, the three companies in his article Codeweavers (CrossOver Office), NeTraverse (Win4Lin) and VMWare are American companies. Most readers would think since those developers are American companies then the author is quoting in American dollars. I really don’t care where a writer is from but do care that he/she post accurate figures and facts.
Related to Crossover is WINE, a free software project supported by the CodeWeavers team. Regrettably, it doesn’t support Project, either. Nor do the two other well-known free projects, BOCHS and Plex86.
Forgive me, but I was under the impression that Bochs and Plex86 were more akin to vmware (a virtual machine). How can a VM not support a particular application if the OS works?
this is a well-known disatvantage.
regretaably, all three emulators – vmware, bochs and plex86 – do not support the famous MICROS~1 Visio and Project operating systems.
This is just another proof that the open source desktop is not ready and will never be. It is not user-friendly (or is there a “Start” button in any GNU/Linux distrinution) and the only applications available for it (vmware, bochs and plex86) are bad and unusable (because they don’t support the famous MICROS~1 Visio and Project operating systems).
Don’t make any wrong assumptions, that author is a professional who is really experienced in that subject, and he knows what he’s writing about.
(or is there a “Start” button in any GNU/Linux distrinution)
yeah, gnome has it, kde has it, and even icewm has it.
“”this is a well-known disatvantage.
regretaably, all three emulators – vmware, bochs and plex86 – do not support the famous MICROS~1 Visio and Project operating systems.
This is just another proof that the open source desktop is not ready and will never be. It is not user-friendly (or is there a “Start” button in any GNU/Linux distrinution) and the only applications available for it (vmware, bochs and plex86) are bad and unusable (because they don’t support the famous MICROS~1 Visio and Project operating systems).
Don’t make any wrong assumptions, that author is a professional who is really experienced in that subject, and he knows what he’s writing about.”””
You’re the one making the wrong assumptions, not to mention you give no evidence whatsoever to back up your statements.