“Many Focus On Linux readers will remember our feature about
VMWare a number of months ago, which allowed Linux users to run
Windows inside a Linux window. While VMWare is a great solution, it
has some drawbacks…”
“Long before there was VMWare, there was Wine, an emulation
project of sorts to build a copy of the Windows API for Linux,
allowing Windows binaries to run directly under X. Wine either
stands for WINdows Emulator or Wine Is Not an Emulator, depending
on which acronym each individual prefers. Wine really suffers from
none of the drawbacks that VMWare imposes on the user, but it has
been very slow to develop and because of this, in the past, it has
been nearly useless for serious work.”
“Times, however, are changing. With a lot of development
hours over a number of years, and now the help of Corel
corporation, Wine is beginning to evolve into a very complete
emulation of the Windows API. Some applications, such as
Corel’s WordPerfect Office 2000 and Deneba’s Canvas 7, are already
using Wine as a foundation technology for Linux deployment. The
Wine project itself has recently stated that it is finally time to
begin working toward a 1.0 version release.”
“So, for many Linux users, it may be time to start using
Wine.”