[Leaplist] WINE (Was: More Anti-Linux Propaganda from MicroSuck and Worst Buy)

[Alexandros Nipirakis]

2009/9/10 Derek Konigsberg <dkonigsberg at logicprobe.org>

> I can't speak for Ventrilo, but WoW falls into the small category of:
> "Application someone put considerable specific effort into Wine to make it
> work."
>
> Also in this category would be some outdated version of MS Office, and just
> enough other "seed" applications that it allows many Linux advocates to
> falsely claim that "Wine runs most Windows apps".
>
> Sometime, if anyone is curious, try running some serious Windows app
> *other* than WoW or an old version of MS Office, and see how far you get.
> But launch it from a terminal window.  Then, look at all the "stub" and
> "fixme" messages flying by.  Then, go to Microsoft's website and look up all
> the API calls that Wine didn't implement yet or stubbed out.  You'll notice
> that they generally date back to Windows 2000.  And its currently 2009.
>
>
IMHO, the best way to run a windows app is to run it in a virtual machine,
where the sandbox environment effectively separates it from your main
operating system and you can take snapshots in case windows decides to do
what windows does best which is get infected with viruses, malware, and
generally crash.  There may be things that work in WINE, but many many
things don't.  And unless something has changed (completely possible, its
been years since I have subjected myself to the pain of trying to do
anything useful with WINE) you used to have to have different components
from windows to make it work (Seem to remember needing the VB/C++ runtimes
for many different apps).  Since Microsoft is (helpfully) blocking you from
getting many of these runtimes without passing "Genuine Advantage"  the
usefulness is rather dubious.

As Derek is saying-- much of the windows api that WINE implements is from
pre-XP code.  Since we are now talking about windows 7, the API will be
radically different than what is new.  Windows developers (err-- I develop a
lot for windows, so I guess that includes me) are generally using .NET more
and more.  I am not sure, but I don't think that WINE can run .NET.  As more
and more developers use .NET for windows, the majority of your Windows
programs will not run.

WINE is great -- as a novelty.  If you want to run Windows programs, you
should USE WINDOWS.  That said, many windows programs have Linux (err UNIX)
counterparts, that can be run for free, and do not require that horrible
operating system.

Using WINE as a point to say "you can run Windows programs in Linux" is
really disingenuous.  You can't run the vast majority of programs in WINE.
Now, saying you can run CERTAIN programs may be true.  It may be perfectly
true to say that WoW runs in WINE.  It hurts Linux to say that you can run
all windows programs in WINE, because invariably someone will try running
something that really doesn't run in WINE.

Propaganda is generally bade, whether it comes from Slashdot, or from
Redmond.

Aleksei

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