A standard argument by Linux users is that if WINE cannot run a Windows  app for whatever reason, do it virtually. Load up Windows in a virtual session with your app of choice, be it VMware, Virtualbox or the like, load up your Windows session and run your app that way.

There is nothing to my knowledge that Linux cannot run virtually if WINE doesn’t cut it. But how well Windows apps can run in virtual is something else.

A few examples:

You’re a web designer and need to test your site designs in Internet Explorer 7 for browser compatibility. Running XP virtually to do that is fine because performance is not an issue.

You’re a blogger and really like Windows Live Writer. This is just a word processor, more or less. Running it virtually won’t be a problem here either.

You’re trying to edit video. You want to run something like Adobe Premiere, Ulead Mediastudio or some other high-powered video editing suite that you bought previously. Can you run this in virtual? Yes. Will it work well? Not a chance. The frame rate on preview will be terrible and so much memory will be sucked into the virtual session that it will probably crash it (not Linux, just the virtual session).

You want to play your favorite Windows games. Can they be emulated in Linux? Yes. Will they work as well? Most likely not. Frame rates will drop and overall gameplay won’t be as fluid. And no, saying "play on a console" is not a solution. There are many reasons why PC gamers like playing games on PCs and not consoles.

The only time I’ve seen Linux have a legitimate problem with emulation is when there’s any high-graphic app involved. The virtual software we have at present still can’t deliver performance as well as natively under Windows. It is virtual, after all.

In the end, I honestly can’t think of anything else that can’t be run in virtual or have a Linux native equivalent.

Have you run a Windows app in Linux that was a bust in WINE and/or virtual?

Name your apps. Did you find Linux equivalents or other creative ways of getting around virtual limitations? Let us know.

It has been a long time coming, but OpenOffice version 3 has officially been released to public beta. The current stable version of OpenOffice is pretty good, but as a Mac user, I have been waiting for a native Mac version of OpenOffice. I am currently running NeoOffice for the Mac, which is good but it is a bit of a tangent.

Aside from the native Mac support (no more running X11), OO3 is going to support the OpenDocument Format (ODF) 1.2 standard as well as be able to open Office 2007 documents (however, InfoWorld is reporting problems with opening Office 2007 docs). Also, according to the OpenOffice site:

The most immediately visible change to OpenOffice.org 3.0 is the new “Start Centre”, new fresh-looking icons, and a new zoom control in the status bar. A closer look shows that 3.0 has a myriad of new features. Notable Calc improvements include a new solver component; support for spreadsheet collaboration through workbook sharing; and an increase to 1024 columns per sheet. Writer has an improved notes feature and displays of multiple pages while editing. There are numerous Chart enhancements, and an improved crop feature in Draw and Impress.

I downloaded the version for Mac OS X (a 168 MB download) and installed it. I got a nice little start screen (as they said I would). The interface also looks more professional than does NeoOffice at this time. The app does seem a bit heavy at times, however.

I will, of course, be exploring it further.

If you are the type of person who sends text messages a lot on your smartphone device using Windows Mobile, this is good news for you.

Windows Mobile 6.1 has been reported to (after a long wait) have native SMS threading. What this essentially means is that text messages can be sent/received in an instant-messenger style way, making it much easier to follow of text conversations. Before this point it was a bit difficult to keep track of what was going on without this threading, but now the native support exists and that’s genuinely a step in the right direction.

[Source: Mobile Computer]