Running Windows Applications on Linux
I recently replaced Mandriva 2007 (formerly Mandriva) on my office workstation with Xubuntu 7.0.4. This recent release has several improvements over 6.10 that I have running on my ThinkPad. One of the most important ones is Wine.
Wine is a software project that allows you to install and run Windows software on a Linux distribution. I've been able to install and run a few applications on my ThinkPad, but only after some troubleshooting and command-line changes. The latest release from Ubuntu changes that; I was able to successfully install AVG Admin (we use for monitoring our antivirus software) and Deep Freeze Enterprise and use them with few or no issues.
In fact, the operating system installation was very painless for me. All the needed drivers (sound, graphics, etc) had automatically installed for me, and I had yet to do any changes at the command-line level. This means that any one that has done Windows operating system installations can handle Ubuntu (or almost any other modern Linux distro).
This opens the possibility to not have to upgrade our systems to Windows Vista; we could migrate to Linux and still use our Windows applications software, and not have to worry about viruses and malware; or the annoying activation and genuine software pop-ups that come up every other Microsoft Update session.
Currently, our item circulation software client will not install using Wine, but that could change in a year or two.
For those of you concerned about Microsoft's claims of patent violations, don't let that scare you away from Linux and open-source software. Though Microsoft has claimed that a sizable number of patents has been violated, they have yet to specify which ones. A similar issue was raised by SCO a few years ago, and it has largely failed in court when they failed specify what part of their property was being copied.
For more information, check out these links:
Ubuntu Home Page
Wine HQ
SCO-Linux controversies - wikipedia
Linux Torvalds Reponds To Microsoft Patent Claims
Microsoft Claims Linux Infringes 42 Patents
Wine is a software project that allows you to install and run Windows software on a Linux distribution. I've been able to install and run a few applications on my ThinkPad, but only after some troubleshooting and command-line changes. The latest release from Ubuntu changes that; I was able to successfully install AVG Admin (we use for monitoring our antivirus software) and Deep Freeze Enterprise and use them with few or no issues.
In fact, the operating system installation was very painless for me. All the needed drivers (sound, graphics, etc) had automatically installed for me, and I had yet to do any changes at the command-line level. This means that any one that has done Windows operating system installations can handle Ubuntu (or almost any other modern Linux distro).
This opens the possibility to not have to upgrade our systems to Windows Vista; we could migrate to Linux and still use our Windows applications software, and not have to worry about viruses and malware; or the annoying activation and genuine software pop-ups that come up every other Microsoft Update session.
Currently, our item circulation software client will not install using Wine, but that could change in a year or two.
For those of you concerned about Microsoft's claims of patent violations, don't let that scare you away from Linux and open-source software. Though Microsoft has claimed that a sizable number of patents has been violated, they have yet to specify which ones. A similar issue was raised by SCO a few years ago, and it has largely failed in court when they failed specify what part of their property was being copied.
For more information, check out these links:
Ubuntu Home Page
Wine HQ
SCO-Linux controversies - wikipedia
Linux Torvalds Reponds To Microsoft Patent Claims
Microsoft Claims Linux Infringes 42 Patents
posted by Technology Coordinator at 12:06 PM
1 Comments:
Can you give me the name and/or URL of the checkout software you need to run on Wine?
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