“Linux is coming to the desktop. Every month it becomes easier
to use and gains more capabilities — it is quickly becoming easy
enough for the average user to install and maintain. Free software
is quickly liberating the desktop.”
“One of the major components of Linux on the desktop is the
ability to run legacy Windows applications and to port them easily
to Unix systems. The WINE project is very important in this regard;
it lets companies which have invested significant resources into
the Windows versions of their respective products to port to Linux
with relatively little trouble. It also allows users to run
applications which have been compiled for Windows directly. While
the WINE libraries are by no means complete or bug-free, they are
certainly stable enough to run and compile a significant and
quickly increasing proportion of Windows programs.”
“As WINE becomes increasingly stable, and as Linux becomes a
major player on desktop machines, the viability of Linux as a
development platform for Windows applications becomes increasingly
realistic. Writing applications for the lowest common denominator,
WINE, makes more and more sense to maintain compatibility with both
the significant and growing Linux desktop as well as the more
outmoded but larger Windows market.“