Crossover Mac: emulating or the real deal?

[wahit]

I've tried to find this answer all over the web, yet I can't seem to find the 'real answer'. I mean, in some websites I've read that Crossover Mac works as an emulator; on other websites I've read that it runs Windows applications with native speed.

What is Crossover Mac after all?!

I've been thinking about buying a copy to run Rhinoceros on OSX, which is basically the only software I still use for Windows, but I'm afraid it wont run the software with it's native speed.

Anyone here uses Crossover Mac?! If yes, what can you tell me about the software regarding stability, performance and compatibility?

Thank you all for the help! I'm just so sick of Windows installed on my Macs............

 

[chainprayer]

I got it when it was free for a day. It has a list of about 20 programs (office stuff, IE, etc) that it knows how to install perfectly. Other programs are not guaranteed to work. If its not on the list, its very buggy.

Also, I got crossover games, and it seems to run VERY slow. (runs much faster on XP side)

 

[Eidorian]

It's on the fly API translation which leads to a lot of overhead and it has compatibility problems. If you want performance I strongly suggest you just install Windows via Boot Camp.

 

[Guiyon]

Crossover is a modified commercial distribution of the WINE libraries; WINE is not an emulator; it is a reimplementation of various Windows APIs. As such its speed is between that of an emulator and a native binary. Since it is not using the 'real' APIs, however, it does run into significant compatibility issues with more complex apps (although it is getting better) and you take a decent speed hit because of the API translation going on.

 

[chainprayer]

but if its not good for games, why would they sell a "games" specific version?

 

[Beric]

Never forget: WINE stands for WINE Is Not an Emulator.

 

[MacDawg]

Rule of thumb... when something says it is "as good as"...
you need to bite the bullet and get the real thing

Woof, Woof - Dawg

 

[Eidorian]

but if its not good for games, why would they sell a "games" specific version?

I honestly don't know. The regular "Pro" version runs Steam just as well. I only have Crossover Games from the free promo.

 

[Beric]

I honestly don't know. The regular "Pro" version runs Steam just as well. I only have Crossover Games from the free promo.

Yeah, it drove me crazy. Couldn't even run the original Age of Empires at a reasonable speed. The game was 10x slower than it should be, lagging like crazy.