Review -- Who says you have to give up all your Windows programs to use Linux? Not CodeWeavers, with its latest version of CrossOver Linux 6.2.
With this new version of CrossOver Linux, you can run more Windows programs on Linux than ever and such Windows mainstays as Microsoft Office--from 97 to 2003--Internet Explorer 6, and Quicken run better than ever. Even programs like Adobe Photoshop are coming along. At this point, I'd recommend that only people who are interested in helping to debug Photoshop on Linux give it a try, but I can see Photoshop running well on Linux sometime soon.
But, for the rest, many Windows mainstay applications run quite well on Linux with CrossOver Linux 6.2. This isn't just an idle opinion. I've been running CrossOver Linux, the release candidate and the final version, for several weeks now. With it, I've been running Office 2003, Quicken 2005, and IE 6 without a single hitch.
How does CrossOver pull this off? The program is based on the open-source project Wine. Wine, in turn, is an implementation of the Windows API on top of the Unix/Linux operating system family. There is also CrossOver Mac, which brings the same functionality to Intel-powered Macs.
You don't need CrossOver Linux to use Wine. What CrossOver brings to the table is that it automates Windows application installation and smooths the entire process. Wine also requires a fair amount of technical expertise. So, I recommend that only Linux experts who also know a fair amount about Windows software try it. There are also other programs, which are not as comprehensive as CrossOver, that make it easier to use Wine to run Windows programs on Linux.
This latest version, according to CrossOver, includes improved game support, major improvement to its Outlook support, and overall improvements in stability and performance. Looking ahead, Jeremy White, CodeWeavers's CEO, says he is looking forward to improving Outlook and adding support for many more games, as well as a wide range of other applications, including many from Adobe's product line, Apple? iTunes and Nuance Communications
