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  5. How-To: Teach Linux To Do Windows, Part 1: Page 5 of 32
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How-To: Teach Linux To Do Windows, Part 1: Page 5 of 32

Now is the time for system builders and their clients to learn Linux.
September 29, 2004
  1. On a day-to-day basis, I find the biggest advantage of Win4Lin/Linux is the ability to work in Linux when Windows is too busy to accept user input. For example, I can write about a program installation while Windows under Win4Lin is rebooting the computer. Also, Windows is far easier to deal with when it's just another resizable window on a Linux desktop. Especially since I can use Linux tools within files in the Windows environment. Especially since some Linux applications are better then their Windows equivalents. Opera for Linux and the gThumb image viewer are good examples of this. I found myself dreading having to boot to Windows.

Why Use Win4Lin Instead of Free Wine and Popular CodeWeavers?

Because Wine, an Open Source implementation of the Windows API on top of X and Unix, can handle only a very limited number of applications.

Now if those applications are the only ones you need, then either WINE (free/included in all Linux distributions) or its commercial version, CodeWeavers, might be good choices for you. But before you do anything, check the list of supported apps on each site carefully to make sure everything you need is there.

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