| CrossOver Office gets optimized for Linspire |
Feb. 08, 2006
CodeWeavers Inc. and Linspire Inc. Wednesday jointly announced the release of CrossOver Office 5.0 for Linspire, a specially optimized version of the product for the Linspire Linux distribution. CrossOver Office enables Linspire users to run Windows applications natively from their Linspire desktop.
"Businesses tell us they want to switch to the desktop Linux operating system to reduce total cost of ownership or improve security, but it's the thought of losing one or two software applications that holds them back," Linspire CEO Kevin Carmony said.
Novell has been polling the public to find out what Windows-only applications, if ported to Linux, would increase the likelihood that people would switch to Linux. Adobe Photoshop ranks No. 1 on the list, Autocad second, and Dreamweaver third in the continuing survey. Quicken, Quickbooks, and Lotus Notes also ranked in the top 10. Many of these apps can be run on Linux via CrossOver Office, according to CodeWeavers.
"CrossOver Office is genius because it removes that hesitation from the equation. Yes, you can still use Photoshop, Quicken, or Microsoft software on your Linspire machine, but you don't have to overpay for a Windows operating system license to do it," added Carmony.
CrossOver Office includes a single-click interface that makes installing Windows applications fast, Linspire said. Once installed, the application will integrate directly with the Linspire environment; users click the application icon or name to launch -- exactly as they would in Windows. Any documents created using CrossOver Office applications may be opened and edited with other native Linux programs, such as OpenOffice.org or GIMP.
Older versions of CrossOver Office have worked for years with most Linux distros, including Linspire. But Linspire spokeswoman Heather MacKenzie said that this version of CrossOver Office 5.0 took several weeks to custom build and is not simply a branding or marketing strategy.
"This version (of CrossOver Office) was optimized specifically for Linspire," MacKenzie said. "And we did some new engineering. First of all, we added a new hardware detector to support the one-click download feature. Now you can just put the CD in, click once and everything starts happening automatically."
Other technical optimizations, according to Linspire, include:- The system file has been modified. Previously, if a user ran CrossOver using Linspire, they would get a pop-up menu every time they rebooted. With this new version, this was fixed so now users only get a pop-up message once at initial install
- The CrossOver submenu was changed so it appears within the menu structure
- MIMEtypes work better with this version
Additionally, the Linspire CrossOver Office version fixes/optimizes several applications, including Office XP, that weren't working optimally under CrossOver for Linux on Linspire systems, Linspire engineer Brian Thomason said.
CodeWeavers CEO Jeremy White told DesktopLinux.com that his company would "be thrilled to work with other Linux distros" in customizing CrossOver Office, but that "Linspire's model of the Click N Run [online support and sales mechanism] was particularly well-suited for partners to integrate. We have great relationships with Xandros and others, but this product was a good fit for what Linspire does so well."
Currently supported applications
CrossOver Office can run a wide range of Windows software, but CodeWeavers fully supports the following applications, according to the company:- Microsoft Office 2003, XP, 2000, and 97
- Microsoft Outlook
- Microsoft Internet Explorer
- Microsoft Project
- Adobe Photoshop
- Microsoft Visio
- Lotus Notes 5.0 and 6.5.1
- Quicken
- iTunes
- FrameMaker
- QuickTime
- Windows Media Player 6.4
A list of other supported applications is available here.
RedMonk IT analyst Stephen O'Grady told DesktopLinux.com via email that CrossOver-type products have become a viable transition option in the marketplace for companies considering switching to Linux from other systems.
"I don't think the CrossOver products are selling in huge volume, but they're a decent tactical solution to the migration problem," O'Grady wrote. "In a more strategic time frame, it probably makes more sense to consider native options such as OpenOffice.org or commercial packages such as StarOffice, but as a transition product, it's quite capable."
Pricing and availability
CrossOver Office 5.0 Standard is now available for Linspire users via Linspire's one-click CNR software download service for $39.95, here.
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