Filed under: Utilities, Windows, Linux, Microsoft, Open Source
Wine 1.0: Coming soon to a computer near you
by Ian Dumych Mar 22nd 2008 at 10:00AM
After nearly 15 years of development, the WINE project is scheduled for the landmark 1.0 release. As with most open source programs, it is hard to sit back and say "ok it's done". The work will always continue, but at some point the program at least accomplishes the original, or in this case, realistic goal. The WINE website now has posted a list of programs that are planned to work properly, constituting the 1.0 release. This sudden optimism in the WINE developer community probably has something to do with the huge boost that Google gave them recently. WINE will probably never boast full compatibility with every Windows application there is, unless Microsoft decides to help (hey, stranger things have happened).
I don't know if this is a labor of love or merely the brainchild of four very gifted games designers, but Level Up is a really weird mash-up of gaming elements that you have probably never seen in a Flash game before.
Let's start with the premise itself: Groundhog Day meets Memento. The game experience revolves around 'days': you explore the world and the clock slowly ticks towards the evening. You bounce around picking up gems and talking to the denizens of 'Level Upland'. Eventually you feel tired and head back to ...
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Zoli Erdos said 1:49PM on 3-22-2008
But we're already on Wine 2.0 :-)
Reply
Zoli Erdos said 1:50PM on 3-22-2008
oops, link missing:
http://www.zoliblog.com/2007/12/24/forget-saas-here-comes-waas/
Steve Portigal said 2:12PM on 3-22-2008
Might be helpful to say what the heck WINE is in your piece?
Reply
Michael Rose said 4:10PM on 3-22-2008
Wine= Wine Is Not an Emulator. It's a compatibility layer, a way for Win32API-based programs (ie. Windows XP apps) to run on non-Windows platforms without actually running Windows (as distinct from emulators/virtualizers like Parallels or VMware, which require a Windows license and virtualize the hardware instead of building compatible APIs).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wine_(software)
Why Wine, and open-source versions of the Win32 stack in general, are important: there are millions of applications comprising billions or trillions of lines of code written to the Win32 API; many are mission-critical, and some of those don't have source available. Eventually Microsoft isn't going to support those APIs anymore, and those applications will be orphaned unless there is a comprehensive, open platform that allows them to run on other systems.
Bufsabre said 4:38PM on 3-26-2008
id venture to say that if youre excited about this article you already know what wine is so you dont really need to state what it is
Angsuman Chakraborty said 3:17AM on 3-23-2008
Yeah, but what makes 1.0 so great?
I was looking to learn about some new features etc.
Reply