VirtualBox may be free, but you still have to own a copy of Windows. If you’re not willing to shell out a few hundred dollars to Microsoft but still want to run Windows on your Intel-based Mac, there is one more alternative: CrossOver from CodeWeavers costs $40 and runs Windows applications on Mac OS X — without Windows.

CrossOver is not virtualization, as evidenced by the whimsically named technology behind it: the open source Wine (Wine Is Not an Emulator) project. With CrossOver, Windows applications run directly in Mac OS X, and not in a virtual machine. Wine is an implementation of the Win32 API on Mac OS X. The Windows applications don’t know they’re not running on Windows. There’s also a CrossOver for Linux.

The result is that a Windows application running with CrossOver uses fewer system resources, including memory, disk space, and CPU utilization, than the same app running in Parallels Desktop or VMware Fusion. Performance of Windows applications is very good.

Now the really Cool thing is if you enter :  ComeToTheLight   as your deal code, coupon offer you will receive a instant rebate of 25% off the regular price. Yes you read it here first! For a limited time new CodeWeavers CrossOver customers can purchase CX Games for only $29.96 and CX Pro for only $52.46.... If You or a friend, relative etc.. ever wanted to try CrossOver Games or the Pro version this is the time to do it.

Update 04/19/2011 : The ComeToTheLight dealcode has expired, you can now use "EmulateMe" as your dealcode and save 15% off CrossOver for Mac and Linux.