Not drinking the Wine 1.0

[vakkotaur]

Wine has at long last reached version 1.0. It started as a means of running Windows 3.1 applications on Linux, and changed through time. It was a bit of a joke if it would ever reach version 1.0 ("Someday I'll run Duke Nukem Forever on Wine 1.0 on GNU/Hurd...") but here it is. The jokes about Duke Nukem Forever and GNU/Hurd* remain accurate.

And if you want to run Linux but have a need to run a Windows program and it can run with Wine (not a sure thing, even with the first stable release) then it's a good thing. I used to think about the odd program from Windows that I missed, but not anymore. I can't recall any Windows programs I feel any need to run.

Abiword and Opera (and Open Office and FireFox) are cross-platform. There are ports of some of the Linux programs I use back to Windows (such as X-chat). Others have replacements, such as TextPad on Windows being replaced for me by NEdit on Linux. And gaim, er, pidgin just blows away AOL's own AIM client, and hey, there is a Windows version.

Don't get me wrong. I don't dislike Wine. I just see it as a tool that I do not need.

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* Normally I avoid using the GNU/ prefix, but since GNU/Hurd actually is a GNU project, they can name it whatever stupid thing they want. And they did.

Comments

[thecanuckguy.livejournal.com]

Is it still a way to run Windows 3.1 applications on Linux? Are there really any Windows 3.1 applications left? (I miss Windows 3.1!)

[vakkotaur.livejournal.com]

From their own feature list:

* Loads Windows 9x/NT/2000/XP, Windows 3.x and DOS programs and libraries

Looks like a "Yes" to me, for running them. I expect there are some Win3.1 things around. The folks who maintain Calmira (http://www.calmira.de/) (an alternate shell for Win3.x to make it look a bit more modern) have some links on this page (http://www.calmira.de/links/index.htm) though I don't know how well those sites are kept up.

[yakko.livejournal.com]

Even though I don't have Windows apps I'd want to run under Linux right now, it's good to know WINE will be there if the need ever arises. DOSBox (for running DOS apps and WFW 3.11) is cross-platform (win/mac/Unix) and so far has done everything I've needed for "old Windows" needs.

[foolscap001.livejournal.com]

It does have some virtues; were it not for Wine, it would have been longer before Google Earth and Picasa became available for Linux.