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intense development and was intended to usher in a wide range of new technologies, including the Win32 API. The Wine developers underestimated the amount of work involved with getting Win16 applications to run, and the subsequent Win32 programs that arrived in the next few years added an entirely new complication. Over time it became clearer how to design the architecture to allow Windows programs to run on Linux. Much of the core design was completed by 2000, but the sheer expanse of the Win32 API meant that several more years would be required just to implement its functionality. The latest versions of Wine support advanced APIs such as DirectX, the Microsoft Installer, and COM. A running joke within the Wine community is that it's been six to twelve months from completion for over a decade. However, things have progressed rapidly in the past few years and it's likely that by the time you read this a stable version of Wine exists.

Let's be realistic about what Wine can and can't do for you. A huge number of programs have been written for Windows over the years, and there's a sweet spot where programs tend to work well with Wine.

Anything before Windows 95 tends to run into problems. There are a lot of reasons for this, but the main reason is that the Win16 and DOS parts of Wine don't get used much, so bugs remain.

Similarly, the applications written for the latest and greatest version of Windows sometimes use features not yet implemented in Wine.

Everything in between, which generally means applications written for Windows 98, 2000, and XP, has a decent shot at running. Common applications that people use Wine with include the following:

Microsoft Office

Internet Explorer

Adobe Photoshop

Quicken

You may find some aspects of your application that won't work with Wine, in which case you'll need to evaluate whether they're necessary or whether perhaps a commercially supported version of Wine (described in a later section) can fix it.

Purists may argue that Wine simply degrades Linux and free software. Practically speaking, however, it's undeniable that more software exists for Windows operating systems than for any other. It's also undeniable that a huge amount of Windows software has turned into abandonware over the years as companies have gone out of business. Wine can expand the library of software you have access to and help you solve integration problems. Wine developers would be the first to point out you should always try to use a native Linux solution. If you can't, then maybe Wine can help you.

If you're a software developer, you may be interested in Winelib, which is the Wine version of the Win32 interfaces, exported for applications to link against. Thanks to Winelib, you can take the source code of a Windows program and recompile it on Linux with Wine. There are several advantages to this, such as being able to run a program on versions of Linux other than x86. Creating a Winelib app also means your program will have access to any native Linux library. For example, if you'd like to integrate an application with a native Linux sound system, you could rewrite parts of the application to work with ALSA. Winelib apps still require Wine to facilitate the management of system activities such as Windows threading. Winelib can be found at http://www.winehq.org/site/winelib.

Wine can help you solve a wide range of integration problems, though some work may be required on your part to make it function smoothly. Don't give up on Wine if your favorite application doesn't start up the first time you try it. Study the resources we point you to here, to get a feel for what you may need to do. Spend some time with the configuration tools to alter the default settings. If that doesn't work, you may want to download the trial version of CrossOver Office to evaluate whether it will work for you.

Getting and installing Wine

Like most free software, the decision you'll need to make concerning Wine is whether to compile from source code or download a binary version. Both offer advantages, but you should weigh