Monday, December 6, 2010

Moving From Windows to Linux - Using Wine to Install Windows Apps on Linux

When thinking of making the move from Windows to Linux, it's important to consider exactly what you want to accomplish with your new Linux install. If you are a Windows user who needs a specific application, like Quark, the desktop publishing app, and your company needs files in a specific, proprietary Quark format, then a switch to Linux might not be for you.

That said, there are a lot of apps in the Windows world that will run on Linux using a program called Wine. Wine stands for "Wine is not an emulator". Cute name, huh? Ahh, those open source programmers sure do have a sense of humor. Wine just might be able to run your Windows app on Linux, which would allow you to make the move to Linux.

It's usually just one or two proprietary apps that prevent people from making the jump from Windows to Linux. Oh, I need to run this or that for work, etc. But with Wine, you may be able to bring those apps to Linux.

A good example of Wine in action on Linux is the use of Photoshop. While the Linux world has a fine image editor in the Gimp, to some artists Photoshop is a must have. Enter Wine. Wine will allow you to run certain versions of Photoshop in Linux at native speed. It's like having your cake and eating it too!
If you would like to browse all of the Windows apps that you can run under Linux via Wine, then head over to the Wine app database here:

http://appdb.winehq.org/. You'll be surprised just how many apps that Wine will allow you to run. Wine can even allow you to run popular games that you wouldn't otherwise be able to use on your Linux computer.
Rand writes about cycling, old school safety razors and nitrile gloves! Check out his site all about blue nitrile gloves: bluenitrilegloves.com, a great barrier against infection. Black Nitrile Gloves are also available and used often by mechanics and the food service industry.

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