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Thursday, September 24, 2015

PlayOnLinux and PlayOnMac 5 the Current state

Hi everybody,

I'm writing this post to give some news about PlayOnLinux and PlayOnMac v5. First of all, the development is rather going well. It takes quite a lot of time because we have to maintain PlayOnLinux 4 and the servers at the same time, and a lot of work remains to be done. This is why it is not possible to give an ETA for the release. However, I can show you what is done so far.

User interface

I guess that this is one of the topic that will concern you the most. A good news is that the application is designed to be totally decoupled from PlayOnLinux core. Basically, it means that we can end up with several interface implementation without changing the core (containing most features)

JavaFX interface

This is the main reference interface. This interface is supported on Linux and on OSX. We are trying to spend time to make it as user friendly as possible to avoid any confusion.
Here are some screenshot of the current version:
Installed applications

Available applications. (We want to replace POL logos by something unique for each program)

Available applications: Description of an installer

This is a script installing a version of wine (1.7.39)

Future configuration window

QT Interface

We are also aware that some of you do not really like the idea of having a non native interface. This is why some effort are put in the implementation of a QT interface. (This development is mostly done by seijikun, a big thank to him).

This interface aims to be as close as possible to PlayOnLinux 4 current interface. The QT interface is not fully implemented at all for the moment, I'm personally putting some effort in implementing the core features, so I do not have a lot of time to help seijkun. But still, here is a screenshot so that you can have an idea.

CLI interface

The CLI interface is not implemented yet at all. We want, on the long run to be able to run PlayOnLinux from the command line.

Integration test mock interface

This interface allows us to run automated test. I'll talk about this in a short paragraph.

Scripting

Introducing templates

The scripts (or installers) are written in Python. Basically, it will give to the scriptors as much liberty as they have in PlayOnLinux 4. However, we are also going to support a new concept: Installers templates. Installers templates are reusable scripts. For example, we will write one script for all Source games.

A more complex example would look like this: 
(Yes some games are natively available on Linux, but it is just for the example ;-))

With this example, the Diablo III script would be "complex", like current scripts, but Half-Life script would look like this:
1
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5
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class HalfLife(WineSteamInstaller):
    title = "Half-Life"
    prefix = "Prefix"
    wineversion = "1.7.34"
    steamId = 130
    packages = ["package1", "package2"]
The choice of the base template is made by the scriptor.

New tools

We have integrated a Python console inside the application so that scriptors can test PlayOnLinux framework (Sorry for the quality):

Performances

Memory consumption

In terms of memory, PlayOnLinux 5 seems to use a little more memory than PlayOnLinux 4.
It is expected because contrary to PlayOnLinux 4, everything us running in a single multi-threaded process. PlayOnLinux 4 is creating a lot of processes, making memory measurement very hard, and wasting a lot of resources.

Interface performances

We've run some benchmark to compare interface performances. PlayOnLinux 5 is running way faster. In fact, it was impossible to script a smooth progressbar with PlayOnLinux 4 because the wizard was responding too slow. To measure the responsiveness of the interface, we compare the time required to show 1000 messages in a wizard.

And a video highlighting the difference:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b57JIFCQg54 (PlayOnLinux is the window on the right)

Testing

Automated testing is part of the code quality. With the new application design, we can run automated tests on a daily basis to detect breaks (in script, or in PlayOnLinux itself). So far, we have written three integration tests:
We also write unit tests for non UI classes.

I think that this is all I have to present for the moment. If you have any question, feel free to comment. I will edit the news if I find anything else.

Cheers,

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Executando o CrossOver 14 Linux para uma melhor experiência com o Wine

Para uma grande quantidade de usuários de Linux e Mac a realidade é que sempre vai existir um programa de Windows que eles ainda precisam usar quase que diariamente. Para muitos a resposta é o Wine, permitindo que programas sejam utilizados com um certo nível  de sucesso em seus sistemas compatíveis com Unix. Infelizmente o Wine não vem com nenhum tipo de garantia de sucesso para uma determinada aplicação, também não possui nenhum tipo de suporte além da comunidade de desenvolvedores, ou um desenvolvedor muito dedicado. Vamos ao Crossover.

https://www.codeweavers.com/store2/?dealcode=weaveme
O CrossOver tem sido o principal fundo de recursos para o projeto Wine por muitos anos, ele oferece uma versão personalizada do código do Wine e inclusive com suporte garantido a uma variedade de aplicativos -- uns jogos, uns softwares de escritório e produtividade, uns utilitários.
https://www.codeweavers.com/store2/?dealcode=weaveme
O Wine atende as necessidades de muitos usuários, de forma gratuita, mas para aqueles que precisam de uma mãozinha ou para aqueles que não se acham capazes de configurar sua instalação do Wine para uma determinada situação o CrossOver é uma boa escolha.
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Por US$ 59,95 o CrossOver conta com um instalador automatizado para muitas aplicações, além de integração com o gerenciador de pacotes do sistema para garantir a instalação de dependências que as camadas de compatibilidade podem requerer -- como codecs, bibliotecas para áudio mp3 e vídeos mpeg, ou fontes de texto específicas.
https://www.codeweavers.com/store2/?dealcode=weaveme
O comprador também pode optar por comprar suporte telefônico direto direto com a equipe do CrossOver, de forma a garantir que os programas rodem em seus sistemas. E não é só isso, toda compra do CrossOver vai diretamente para o desenvolvimento contínuo do Wine uma vez que o CrossOver emprega muitos dos contribuidores e desenvolvedores, assim como todas as correções feitas no código, "não importa o quão pequena", são sempre enviadas ao projeto do Wine em si. Ao comprar o CrossOver você contribui diretamente com o Wine.
https://www.codeweavers.com/store2/?dealcode=weaveme
Para mim, o maior e mais importante recurso é a integração com o gerenciador de pacotes. Todas as minhas aplicações principais (Microsoft Office, World Of Warcraft, Warcraft 3) e as outras funcionam muito bem com a versão base do Wine. Mas toda vez que troco minha distribuição do SO eu sempre preciso analisar e instalar todas as dependências do sistema, como as versões de 32 bits do gstreamer, lipmpg, mp3, entre outras. Já com o CrossOver assim que um programa sendo instalado precisa dessas dependências ele me avisa dos pacotes necessários.
https://www.codeweavers.com/store2/?dealcode=weaveme
Para usuários avançados comprar o CrossOver pode não ter um benefício direto. Mas para aqueles mais leigos com a computação, ou que querem ajudar o projeto do Wine, então comprar o CrossOver é uma maneira simples de contribuir.
https://www.codeweavers.com/store2/?dealcode=weaveme
O CrossOver tem se mantido funcionando muito bem através dos anos, mesmo lembrando do CrossOver Office 5 de mais de 10 anos atrás e também do CrossOver Games, que foi integrado ao CrossOver atual.

https://www.codeweavers.com/store2/?dealcode=weaveme
 

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WineHQ WineConf 2015 Group Photo

WineHQ WineConf 2015 Group Photo

From left top to right bottom: Sebastian Lackner, Aaryaman Vasishta, Austin English, Rosanne DiMesio, Ulrich Czekalla, Michael Stefaniuc, Henri Verbeet 

Aric Stewart, Piotr Caban, Jacek Caban, Caron Wills, Christian Inci, André Hentschel, Jeremy White, Alois Schloegl, Andrew Eikum, Huw Davies, Hans Leidekker, Robert (Focht)

Stefan Doesinger, Dmitry Timoshkov, Alexandre Julliard, Francois Gouget, Andrei Podoplelov, Nikolay Sivov, Michael Müller 

Marcus Meissner, Jactry Zeng, Qian Hong, Josh DuBois, Vincent Povirk, Józef Kucia, Matteo Bruni

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Wine Stable Release Changes

Hello,

At WineConf we had a fairly uncontroversial discussion about the Wine Stable release process. As the current process of feature based Wine releases isn't working(*) following changes were agreed upon.

Release Process Changes
------------------------
- - Switch to time based releases.
- - Major releases once a year in autumn/fall. Code freeze starts around mid/end of September.
- - Michael Stefaniuc will be the stable maintainer starting with 1.8.x. Other people are more than welcome to help out with Wine Stable. I'll document stuff and send out a request for help during the code freeze.
- - The stable release will be supported in bugzilla.
- - This changes take effect immediately. You can expect Alexandre to announce a code freeze in the next couple of weeks.
- - We will revisit this changes should the need arise, e.g. reduce the time between two major stable releases.

Discussion
-----------
The discussion was done based on slide 9 of Alexandre's keynote At the start Alexandre and others noted that we do not hear from users for whom 1.6 is just working. We are getting reports only about the stuff that breaks.

The discussion quickly geared to the changes accepted from above with the focus on implementation details:

- - 6 months better? No, the 12-18 months stable release cadence prior to 1.8 was ok. Can be reduced later on should the need arise.
- - Synchronize with (a) major distro? No, release dates can slip on both ends. Freeze should also not impact GSoC.
- - Nobody else volunteered during the discussion for the stable maintainer role.

For the more drastic proposal of removing the the Wine Stable version altogether, Alexandre made drafted a plan to follow a similar model to the Linux Kernel. One release for the risky stuff and every second release is for stabilization. He proposed also a two weeks "merge window" for risky stuff followed by two weeks for the fixes and the last two weeks of "freeze". This produced a loud outcry from most developers: it would be unworkable without a prior move to a git pull model to accept new features. This basically killed the proposal.

(*) 1.6 released > 2 years ago and was latest updated 1.5 years ago. It doesn't compiles on a modern distribution anymore.

bye,
Michael

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Monday, September 7, 2015

Crossover 14 Linux, una experiencia Wine más llevadera

Una buena parte de los usuarios de Linux y Mac se encontrarán con que hay algún programa para Windows que tienen que utilizar a diario o con cierta frecuencia. Para muchos la solución es Wine, que les permite usar esas aplicaciones en entornos *nix con mayor o menor éxito. Desafortunadamente, Wine no proporciona ninguna garantía para aplicaciones concretas, ni existe un soporte oficial por parte de los desarrolladores más allá de la comunidad o de colaboradores altruistas. Aquí es donde CrossOver entra en juego. 

https://www.codeweavers.com/store2/?dealcode=weaveme
CrossOver lleva varios años siendo el principal soporte económico del proyecto Wine. Ofrecen una versión personalizada de Wine e incluso dan soporte oficial a ciertas aplicaciones -determinados juegos, software de productividad y utilidades-.
https://www.codeweavers.com/store2/?dealcode=weaveme
Para muchos usuarios Wine satisface sus necesidades sin coste alguno, pero para aquellos que quieran una ayuda extra o no se vean capaces de configurar su instalación de Wine adecuadamente, CrossOver es una buena solución.
https://www.codeweavers.com/store2/?dealcode=weaveme
Por 59.95$ USD, CrossOver proporciona un instalador automático de muchas aplicaciones, así como integración con el gestor de paquetes para instalar las dependencias que hagan falta -por ejemplo, códecs o fuentes concretas-.
https://www.codeweavers.com/store2/?dealcode=weaveme
El cliente también puede contratar el soporte telefónico directo de CrossOver para lograr ejecutar sus aplicaciones. Y eso no es todo. Cada compra de CrossOver contribuye con el desarrollo de Wine pues muchos de los colaboradores y desarrolladores son empleados de CrossOver, y cualquier corrección que realizan, “por muy pequeña que sea”, se aporta a Wine. Respaldando CrossOver, los usuarios respaldan Wine
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Para mí personalmente, la mejor característica de CrossOver es la integración con el gestor de paquetes. Todas mis aplicaciones (MS Office, World of Warcraft, Warcraft 3 y otras) funcionan correctamente en la versión básica de Wine, pero cada que vez que cambio de distribución Linux tengo que instalar todas las dependencias del sistema como los códecs gstreamer, libmpg, soporte mp3, etc. Sin embargo, CrossOver me ofrece instalar todos esos paquetes en cuanto intento ejecutar una aplicación Windows que los necesita. 

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Para usuarios avanzados, adquirir CrossOver puede que no suponga un beneficio directo, pero para aquellos menos tecnológicamente versados o que simplemente quieren contribuir con el proyecto Wine, CrossOver es una manera fácil de obtener ayuda y ayudar a la comunidad de Wine. 

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Con el paso del tiempo CrossOver ha conseguido asentarse, desde CrossOver Office 5 de hace más de 10 años y CrossOver Games, que ahora se incluye integrado en el propio CrossOver. 

https://www.codeweavers.com/store2/?dealcode=weaveme

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Wine 1.7.51 for Mac OSX and Linux has been Released

The Wine development release 1.7.51 is now available.
What's new in this release:
  • XAudio2 implementation using OpenAL Soft.
  • Support for the new Universal C Runtime DLL.
  • Dropdown menu support in the standard Open Dialog.
  • Grayscale rendering mode in DirectWrite.
  • Various bug fixes.
The source is available now. Binary packages are in the process of being built, and will appear soon at their respective download locations.

 Bugs fixed in 1.7.51 (total 37):

   9848  flipviewer fails to load
  14915  FlushFileBuffers() fails on disk volume, sets ERROR_INVALID_HANDLE when handle supposedly valid
  19425  notepad: running notepad with a non-existent file and choosing yes to create a new file should do so immediately (appinstall)
  22978  SimCity2000: race condition causes crash in MCI during startup
  28186  uninstaller has no proper usage message
  28770  Diablo 2 - sound works in menu, stops after starting game
  28911  cnet download app cannot download anything
  29017  4th Dimension 6.5.4 crashes
  29380  Sonic Generations: needs "C:\users\\My Documents\My Games" to exist
  29381  Sonic Generations: configuration tool turns into a zombie process when closed
  29880  Sonic Generations: no audio
  30170  Afterburner 3D: screen not drawn properly (orm=fbo)
  32213  Tales of Pirates II Randomly Closes out.
  32527  No Navigation in panel / Heredis 9
  34008  Multiple DirectX10 games need D3D11CreateDevice implementation with D3D_FEATURE_LEVEL_10_x support (Bioshock Infinite, Age of Mythology: Extended Edition, GRID )
  34244  DARK (2013) doesn't launches without native quartz
  36300  valgrind shows an invalid read in msxml3/tests/saxreader.c
  36498  Project64: about page is black
  36589  valgrind shows uninitialized memory use in usp10/tests/usp10.c
  36875  Incorrect check in PlayEnhMetaFileRecord() with case == EMR_SCALEWINDOWEXTEX
  37266  LTSpice netlist text unreadable (monospaced text glyphs are misplaced and overlapping)
  37451  python 3.1.1: test_test_decimal failed
  37865  echo/ not works as expected (like echo. and echo:)
  37915  Multiple games and applications need proper handling of Vista+ 'PROCESS_QUERY_LIMITED_INFORMATION' right (UPlay games, MS Visual Studio 2015 installer)
  38343  Unimplemented function mfplat.dll.MFGetPluginControl
  38672  valgrind shows uninitialized memory in update_net_wm_states()
  38751  El Matador, Exodus from the Earth have rendering issues when anti-aliasing enabled
  38841  PunkBuster 'PnkBstrB.exe' initialization fails (K32EnumProcessModules write to NULL pointer)
  38870  regsvr32: Flags should be processed before files
  38927  IVONA Voices (SAPI TTS): Trial period (30 days) prematurely expires as soon as wineserver session ends
  39014  Multiple games render pink artifacts (O2Jam, Stranded II, SpaceRace)
  39077  o2jam doesnt close completely after exit the game, it stays on the process
  39111  Reinstalling Nvidia Physx adds  path multiple times to 'HKLM\System\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager\Environment\Path'
  39127  Multiple applications wrapped with XenoCode Postbuild 2009 application sandboxing crash with stack overflow ('NtWaitForSingleObject' must not call 'NtWaitForMultipleObjects')
  39148  Guild Wars and Guild Wars 2 don't exit properly
  39165  dlls/xaudio2_7 fails to compile (unconditional dependency on OpenAL)
  39174  TP Link CPL administration tool crashed on : unimplemented function wpcap.dll.pcap_parsesrcstr



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Friday, September 4, 2015

CrossOver azaz Windows alkalmazások Linuxon (és Macen)

Üdv Mindenkinek!

Szeretném megosztani veletek az élményeim, illetve tapasztalatom a CrossOver nevű szoftverrel linuxon.
Először is a gépemről.:
Oprendszer: Zorin OS 9 (64bit) (Ubuntu 14.04-es alapon fekszik)
Asztali felület: Lubuntu-desktop
AMD Athlon II P360 Dual-core 2.3 Ghz processzor
3GB Ddr3 Ram
Amd Radeon HD 6650m (1 GB) videókártya

Tehát amint látjátok nem a legfelső kategória, de épp ezért volt érdekes számomra látni, hogyan is futnak a Windowsos programok.

Screenshotokat is készítettem azért, hogy láthassatok 1 telepítési folyamatot is esetleg. A CrossOver beszerzése nagyon egyszerű volt csak fel kell lépni az oldalukra és le kell tölteni az adott distrora.

A letöltés végeztével, láttam egy .bin fájlt, terminálba beindítottam, nagyon egyszerű telepítése van, mindent elvégez saját magának. Itt találtam 1 kisebb bugot, Lubuntu/LXDE asztalnál resetelni kell a desktopot, hogy az ikont a telepítés után létrehozza. Én egyszerűen csak létrehoztam 1 indítóikont neki, gondoltam így egyszerűbb lesz. Miután sikeresen feltelepítettem, létrehoztam az ikont, illetve tökéletesen beindult, felhozott 1 terminált miszerint a szükséges fájlokat le kell töltenie, itt kér majd adminisztrátor engedélyt, hogy azokat letölthesse. Mikor minden kész volt egy egész kis pofás GUI-t találtam magam előtt. Egyszerű az elrendezése és könnyen használható, amit viszont hiányoltam belőle a Magyar nyelv. De ez elhanyagolható úgy gondolom. Miután minden készen állt, úgy éreztem muszáj kipróbálnom valamit. Támogatott szoftvereknél megtaláltam a GRID nevű játékot. Régen PlayOnLinux segítségével már megpróbáltam befuttatni, sajnos se azzal, se ezzel nem sikerült elérnem ezt. Kicsit utána olvasgatva rájöttem, hogy az AMD driverekkel van a probléma, szóval ha Open Source drivert (Radeon driver) használnák valószínűleg beindulna. Miután feladtam a GRID-el való szórakozást úgy döntöttem, egy régi MMORPG-t sok ember régi kedvencét a Metin2-t fogom letesztelni. Sikerült a telepítés beindult, a játék és felettébb jól megy. Egy kis összehasonlítás kedvéért feltettem ugyan azt a klienst PlayOnLinux segítségével is. A CrossOver által futtatott Metin2 20 fps-el többet produkált, ez számomra nagyon sokat jelentett. Mert így van rá esély, hogy a többi játék is jobban produkálna. Ezek után úgy döntöttem, nézzük meg az egyik fontos szoftvert amit emberek nagy tömege használ naponta és ez a Microsoft Office. (Igen, tudom van Libreoffice, viszont én személy szerint találkoztam már pár hibával ha docx/doc formába mentek, esetleg ppt készítésnél.) Tehát, gondoltam kipróbálom.

Mivel Office 2013-al rendelkezem gondoltam felteszem azt és nézzük, hogyan is produkál. Sajnálatos módon ez is besült, ilyenkor döntöttem úgy, hogy megkérdezem a CrossOver embereit hátha tudnak nekem segíteni. Nagyon hamar kaptam a választ (olyan 10-15 perc volt kb), hogy nemsokára megérkezik a Crossover15 ami már támogatni fogja, a 2013-mas Office-t is. Úgy döntöttem leszedem, hát az Office 2010-et. Minden hiba nélkül települt, működik, nem lassú nem fagy be.
Összegezve: Mint a Winenak a CrossOvernek is vannak hibái. De a GUI amit létrehoztak, az egyszerűség, hogy nem terhelik meg a felhasználókat mindenféle beállítási lehetőséggel, maximum akkor kell hozzányúlni a beállításokhoz, ha valamilyen nem támogatott szoftvert akarunk telepíteni.

Végezetül megéri ? Szerintem Igen. Játékokban kicsivel gyorsabb mint társai, így aki Windows játékokat szeretne játszani, annak ajánlom. Illetve, Windowsos programok százai támogatottak alapból, szóval ha nem szeretnél megszabadulni Windowson használt programjaidt

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CodeWeavers CrossOver 14.1.6 ChangeLog

CodeWeavers recently released CrossOver 14.1.6 for Linux and Mac. Gaming performance continues to advance with this release. Their are important fixes for Mac OSX El Capitan RHEL CentOS and Ubuntu in this release. The full change log is provided below.

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  14.1.6 CrossOver - September 2, 2015
  • Mac OS X:
    • Fixed a problem which caused CrossOver to crash on El Capitan when selecting a bottle in the GUI.
  • Application Support:
    • Fixed a bug which caused Mamut Business Software to crash during installation.
  • Linux:
    • Fixed a problem which caused CrossOver to fail to load libX11 on RHEL / CentOS 6.7.
    • Fixed a problem in which CrossOver would complain about unmet dependencies of libosmesa6 on Ubuntu 14.04.3.
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CodeWeavers CrossOver 14.1.6 has been released

I am delighted to announce that CodeWeavers has just released CrossOver 14.1.6 for both Mac OSX and Linux.  CrossOver 14.1.6 has important bug fixes for both Mac and Linux users.

Mac customers with active support entitlements will be upgraded to CrossOver 14.1.6 the next time they launch CrossOver Mac.  Linux users can download the latest version from https://www.codeweavers.com/.

Change Log For CrossOver Mac and Linux :

14.1.6 CrossOver - September 2, 2015
  • Mac OS X:
  • Application Support:
    • Fixed a bug which caused Mamut Business Software to crash during installation.
  • Linux:
    • Fixed a problem which caused CrossOver to fail to load libX11 on RHEL / CentOS 6.7.
    • Fixed a problem in which CrossOver would complain about unmet dependencies of libosmesa6 on Ubuntu 14.04.3.
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Wednesday, September 2, 2015

Running CrossOver 14 Linux For An Easier Wine Experience

For a large portion of Linux and Mac users the reality is there will be some Windows program that they will still have to use on a daily or near-daily basis. For many the answer is Wine, letting them use their applications with a variable amount of success on their new *nix system. Unfortunately Wine doesn't come with any guarantee of support for a given application, nor is there any level of support from the developers beyond the community, or a generous developer. Enter CrossOver.
 
CrossOver has been the main financial support behind the Wine project for several years now, they offer a customized version of the Wine codebase and even claim explicit support for a variety of applications-- some games, some productivity software, some utilities.
 
For many users Wine meets all of their needs, free of charge, but for those who want that extra hand, or who don't trust that they'll be able to configure their wine install to meet their situation, then CrossOver is a nice compromise. 
 
For $59.95 USD, CrossOver will give you an automated installer for many applications, as well as integration into the package manager for dependencies that the compatibility layer might need -- such as codecs, mp3 and mpeg libraries, or specific fonts.
 
The buyer can also opt to buy phone support direct from CrossOver in order to get their applications working on their systems. That's not the only thing though, every purchase of CrossOver goes directly to the continuing development of the Wine project as CrossOver employs many of the contributors and developers, as well as contributing every fix they develop, "no matter how tiny", directly back to the Wine project itself. By supporting CrossOver, users support Wine.

For me personally, the biggest and most helpful feature is the integration with the package manager. All of my main applications -- MS Office, World Of Warcraft, Warcraft 3, and others all work fine in the base version of Wine. But anytime I swap a new distro to try out I always have to go back through and install all of the system dependencies, such as (32bit versions of) gstreamer codecs, libmpg, mp3 support, and others. But with CrossOver I get prompted to install those packages the moment I try to install a Windows application that has those dependencies declared. 
 
For advanced users, purchasing CrossOver may not have a direct benefit. But for those who are less technologically minded, or that want to help out the Wine project, then purchasing CrossOver is an easy way to support themselves, as well as support the wider community who benefits from the Wine project.
 
CrossOver has managed to work fairly well over the years, even going back to CrossOver Office 5 from 10+ years ago as well as CrossOver Games, which has since been integrated into CrossOver itself.

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