The attempt to move the Linux OS into the desktop can only be realized if there is an acceptable way to transparently run Windows applications under Linux. Since Windows is the operating system that over 90 percent of all desktops are running it is only a transparent solution that will excite users to run another Windows like OS (Linux). There have been several attempts to do this and I believe that it is only going to be a short time before someone comes up with a perfect solution to solve this problem.
Meanwhile, for the Linux fans out there you can continue to try some of the solutions listed below to run your windows applications under Linux.
- Create Virtual machines.
- Use another application to create a Win32 sub system.
- Port the application to Linux
Each one of these solutions has its draw back. First of all let's take a look at creating virtual machines. The best solution for this is to use the product VMware at www.vmware.com which will set you back for some dollars. The ideal is to install this program on your Linux system or Windows system serving as a host and then from the host you can then run other operating systems. If we take an example of a machine running a Linux distro you can install vmware for Linux and then install Windows XP or another flavor of Windows, in that way you can run your Windows applications in Linux.
The major setback of this is that you have to be an expect that knows what he is doing to make this work, especially when it comes to sharing files between the host and guest operating system. As if that is not enough trouble you will need to buy the software to create your virtual machine and then get a copy of Windows operating system license and this is what you try to avoid in the first place. The good news is that there is now software called Xen Virtual machine that runs on Linux which is free at http://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/Research/SRG/netos/xen that will do the same job. This brings us to the next solution.
While not do away with windows totally and create software that will create a Win32 environment on our Linux machine and then run Linux from there. That sounds better to me. There are already solutions like this. Please take a look at WINE at www.winehq.com Wine is software that creates a sub system on your Linux machine to run Windows applications. Although Wine is still in its early stage, it does look promising. The major advantage of wine is that it does not require windows just the applications. So you do not need a license. I believe this is the future of the integration of Linux and Windows that will actually bring Linux to the desktop. The major advantage of this approach is that it is transparent to the user. At this time not all Windows applications will work on wine.
Finally, we have software that actually port the Windows applications totally to Linux and try to run it that way. Guys like http://www.codeweavers.com can help you with this type of solution. This can be very expensive.
The easiest solution is to look around on the web for software that can do what you are used to doing in Windows. |
