| CrossOver Office crosses over to 5.0 |
Oct. 25, 2005
CodeWeavers today released a major update to its software platform that enables many Windows programs to run as-if-natively on Linux systems. CrossOver Office Version 5.0 adds "initial support" for Microsoft Office 2003, and adds a "powerful" new feature called "bottles" that makes it easier to manage Windows applications, and "dramatically [improves] the installation and execution process of nearly every Windows program," said CEO Jeremy White.
The new bottles feature allows users to easily create multiple virtual Windows environments, allowing Windows applications to be assigned to one or another virtual Windows OS.
The other major enhancements are mainly in the area of significant rewrites of WINE, the underlying Windows emulation technology (we know: WINE stands for Wine Is Not an Emulator) on which CrossOver Office is based. More change and enhancement details are here.
Coincident with the release of CrossOver Office version 5, today also marks the release of version 0.9 of Wine, White added.
"We are also grateful for the many improvements that others have made to Wine over the past year. Highlights include improved support for games, improved sound code, an improved richedit control, and far too many others to list," White said. "I truly believe that Wine is reaching a critical turning point; the point where we start realizing the dream of having everything 'just work'. With your continued support, I look forward to the day when we can say with some confidence that Linux is nearly completely Windows compatible."
"I do recommend that anyone with a production, critical, CrossOver environment wait a while before upgrading, and at the very least, make a complete backup of your ~/.cxoffice directory prior to upgrading. Version 5.0 represents a radical change from prior versions of CrossOver, and you would be wise to upgrade with caution," White cautioned.
We second that!
Another article about the release of CrossOver Office 5.0 appears at eWEEK.com.
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