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Windows Applications On Mac, Without Windows

Running Windows apps without a sandbox sounds scary to me, from a support standpoint. At least the damage from vulnerabilities in apps could be limited to what's in the sandbox.
 
Compatible Apps

IMO, this is good that the supported apps are limited, it means viruses won't work with it, as it's only working with 'preset' apps...
 
Killyp said:
Compatible Apps

IMO, this is good that the supported apps are limited, it means viruses won't work with it, as it's only working with 'preset' apps...
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Right. Because we never had macro viruses for Excel or Word, right? ;)
There may be other vulnerabilities we don't know yet.
 
quigleybc said:
So, is this INTEL only?

Or can us PPC users get in on this ?
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No, it's Intel only. I feel your pain (My Quad will be missing out on the fun).

SeaFox said:
A "Windows window" eh? Is that anything like "Picture Picture" from Mr Roger's Neighborhood?
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Hey now, I was having trouble figuring out what the hell to call it. :p Lets not even get into the people who are gonna be offended by excluding Linux :rolleyes:
 
My kind of solution!

I've been trying to convince my brother to give up his nasty PC for so long now, but he clings to it because of some bespoke auto-data PC only software, and this sounds like the perfect solution (if it's supported). I tell him "throw away your PC, buy a mac mini and run your software using WINE. Brilliant! Don't even have to have Windows installed. That's my kind of solution!
 
Viruses and worms now adays typically target a very specific vulnerability or piece of code in Windows API's. Note that this does NOT used Microsoft code, but rather is using reverse-engineered stuff (Wine). Therefore, a vulnerability that is found in Microsoft's OS may not be present in Wine. On the flip side, a vulnerability may be found in Wine that is not present in Microsoft's OS.
 
QCassidy352 said:
If it's stable, seamless, and runs full speed, it doesn't matter to me what the developers had in mind when they wrote it.
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Running apps under Codeweavers/WINE will never be as stable, seamless, and full speed as a natively developed app. WINE is a complete rewrite of all the Windows APIs - it needs to match every feature and every bug in Windows exactly, or software will break. The WINE developers have made some fantastic progress, but it's slow going and every time it comes close to being usable, Microsoft releases a new version of Windows.
 
QCassidy352 said:
but if everything would run at native speeds without installing windows, who cares if they say that the software is "developed for mac" vs. "developed for PC?"
If it's stable, seamless, and runs full speed, it doesn't matter to me what the developers had in mind when they wrote it.
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Because then the apps wouldn't be Mac Apps and all the reasons we bought a Mac in the first place would be gone. If an application is written for a PC it follows all the PC strictures. We would have the menu bar on each window and a square/line and X in the place of the colored buttons. All the menus would all be set up like on a PC. There would be no application consitency and we may as well be running Windows. The only way around this would be some type of direct translation program which is probably what this software is and is also probably why it has to be done on an application by application basis.
 
Peace said:
I think the games that will be supported will be the ones dependent on the CPU rather than the GPU.
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Not necessarily. Half Life 2 (mentioned by Codeweavers as a probable supported game) uses OpenGL. We are trying to find out if they are just porting OpenGL API's or whether DirectX is also in the picture. Of course, this is all based on Wine.
 
I think the biggest issue is the fuglyness of these apps. I presume there isn't some magic piece of code in WINE which will make every app suddenly employ Apple's UI grid for spacing and layout. That's why they need a "Windows window" so that people understand these are Windows applications and that's why they look like ass.
 
yeah, but the thing is darwine doesn't work without spending a day trying to config it.
 
SilentPanda said:
This could be bad in that OS/2 kinda way... :(
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Hasn't killed Linux yet. The Linux version runs IE (though I only use it for localized testing and never web browsing), Office 2003 and a few other "mission critical apps" rather well. Not being a CAD Engineer, I've never tried AutoCad, but if they list it, it should work. Its true purpose isn't to run Windows, but rather to run Windows' critical apps, those which are truly exclusive to Windows or the Windows world.

Most everything else has a equal or better alternative that integrates and collaborates just as well. Also, since this runs in an almost sandbox-like environment, if a Windows app crashes it does/should not take down the entire system, at best just CXOffice/Wine. (There has been a recent study of this using Ubuntu vs Windows XP).

ahuman7341 said:
Wow I think they are just reselling WINE a FREE virtualization app available for x86 based unixes.
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You're not purchasing the program, but rather the support and guarantee that it will work with the programs they've listed. Fairly common in the Open Source business model, no?
 
just got it running and it's pretty nice, i've just got steam running and i'll test a few games out.
 
QCassidy352 said:
but if everything would run at native speeds without installing windows, who cares if they say that the software is "developed for mac" vs. "developed for PC?"

If it's stable, seamless, and runs full speed, it doesn't matter to me what the developers had in mind when they wrote it.
Click to expand...

One of the reasons I prefer OS X over Windows is that I think the Mac OS and the applications running on it are far more attractive/polished/stylish/aesthetically pleasing than Windows. Yes, I guess I'm vain in that regard.

I'd hate to see developers not bother with a Mac version since the windows version would be "stable, seamless, and runs full speed," so who cares what it looks like on the screen.

I'd like to think that a program running in this manner would never be as fast and stable as a program built from the ground up to run in OS X.

I look at ugly Windows programs all day at work - I don't want to have to start using them at home again!
 
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