Codeweavers makes really cool software called CrossOver that lets Mac and Linux users run Windows software on their computers. There are two versions: CrossOver Pro, which installs and runs lots of office-y stuff, and CrossOver Games, which does exactly what it sounds like. Quoth Wikipedia:
CrossOver (known before version 6.0 as CrossOver Office) is the collective name for three commercial and proprietary programs developed by CodeWeavers that allows many Windows-based applications to run on Linux, Mac OS X and Solaris using a compatibility layer. The programs include CrossOver Mac, CrossOver Linux and CrossOver Games.
The programs are tweaked, proprietary versions of the public Wine source tree with various compatibility patches added, more user-friendly configuration tools and commercial support. CodeWeavers employs several Wine developers and contributes code back to the free software/open source software Wine project as per the GNU LGPL, although CrossOver itself is proprietary software.
I just saw on Reddit that for today only, Codeweavers is making full versions of CrossOver Pro and CrossOver Games for Mac and Linux available, for free.
I’m a big fan of CrossOver. Before Pokerstars released their Mac client, I used CrossOver to play in tourneys for years on both my Linux machine and my Mac. If you’re a Mac or Linux user and you want or need to run Windows software on your machine, including a bunch of spiffy games, head over to Codeweavers and get to downloading.
ETA: The Unofficial Apple Weblog explains why Codeweavers is doing this today. Pretty awesome.
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Mmmm… wait… you don’t mean mixed together, do you? Because I think that would create an explosion not unlike the Big Bang…
I haven’t heard of Crossover – does it work where Wine doesn’t on Linux?
SQUEEE!!!!!!
I saw that on Mac Rumors earlier as well. Figured why not give it go. If it chokes, nothing lost.
By the Gods… how kewl is this!
Snarf!
Note that the CodeWeavers site is getting slammed today, try down.codeweavers.com if you are having trouble.
Full story at http://www.tuaw.com/2008/10/27/codeweavers-says-cheap-gas-free-software-tomorrow/
Running Outlook 2003 in CrossOver right now. Feeling kinda dirty.
Michael Doss — if Wine doesn’t work in a particular scenario, chances are CrossOver won’t work either. It’s a GUI wrapper for Wine with some installation helpers and optimization tweaks, but the core functionality is Wine-esque.
I’ve been very happy with Crossover, something I purchased last year to play Portal (speaking of Coulton…) on my Mac. I’m a little sad that now it’s free, but I’ve been telling many friends how great it is.
I’ve got all of Orange Box working on it, as well as Lord of the Rings Online, all with good performance. I also use IE6 for web site testing ::shudder::.
And here I always thought he said “Codemonkey like diet Mountain Dew.”
So, not trying to be a dick here, genuinely trying to understand: if this is based on WINE, which is free, and is a gui wrapper they charge 40 bucks for, my thrill at the gesture is somewhat dulled.
I totally just hit that. A free liscence for their wrapper and support for a year – I’m all over that. I’ve used WINE before, but it’s always seemed bit flat and difficult to use, I’ve heard good things about CrossOver and the other proprietary versions of it (WINE) that offer more support.
I’m totally going to run windows on linux on windows in my ubuntu VM.
Nice Jonathan Coulton Reference 🙂
I still prefer Parallels & VMware. Only a few Windows applications will work in WINE/CrossOver and it has an ugly X11-based Win98 user interface.
Thanks for sharing this news! You rock, Wil Wheaton. You rock.
Thanks for the heads up on this. I put in for a serial – I’ve been meaning to try out Crossover for awhile now and this gives me an excellent excuse to do it!
This is freakin’ awesome! First the awesomeness that is teletoon retro on “free preview” and now this. Yup, things are lookin’ up.
Note: Typed while watching “Fraggle Rock”… Jim Henson was a genius.
What’s really nice (even though I missed this) is that they kept their promise about the lower gas prices even if Bush had nothing to do with it. Now, if only the first party would actually do something (although to be honest, when someone wants the government to do something about “family values” warning lights go off – that’s usually a code for religious or cultural bigotry.
I downloaded. I got all my iMac users to download. Now our Entourage – Exchange problems look to be a thing of the past as I can run Outlook ’07.
Unfortunately, there appears no IE 7 or 6 model that works in this for their XP port. And that puts the kabosh on some things as we HAVE to use IE for some sites. Pretty lame of those site designers, huh?
Do they have anything that let’s you run old windows drivers on Vista?