Run Microsoft Office Without Windows
Posted by Sleeper on 01 April 2002 - 17:29 · 25 comments & 120 views
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Hoping to break down one the biggest barriers to acceptance of Linux on the desktop, CodeWeavers unveiled software that allows corporate users to run Microsoft Office and Lotus Notes without a Windows operating system.
The product, called CrossOver Office, eliminates the need for a Windows operating systems license as well as a Windows emulator which, traditionally, have tended to weigh down the speed and performance of desktop applications.
Typically, Linux users who want to run popular Windows-based applications needed to install a Windows emulator as well as licensing copies of Windows and the application they want to run. CrossOver Office allows users to go directly into Office applications or Notes, which helps speed deployment and eliminates the cost of an emulator, according to company officials.
"Making it simple to use Windows software on Linux helps knock down a big barrier to growth of the Linux desktop. This will help a lot of organizations choose the power, flexibility, and value of their Linux desktop," says Rick Lehrbaum, executive editor of DesktopLinux.com.
Company officials says they plan to market the product direct to corporate users thinking of migrating to Linux, IT consultants who focus on desktop management, value-added resellers, and Internet appliance and thin-client users.
Coming Soon
Codeweavers plans to release later this year software that will allow other popular Windows-based application to run under Linux, but the company declines to say what those applications would be.
"We plan on rapidly delivering support for several more Windows productivity applications throughout 2002, which we think can only further strengthen Linux position on the desktop," says Jeremy White, St. Paul, Minnesota-based CodeWeavers' founder and president.
The first version of the software supports Office 97 and Office 2000, with support for Office XP coming in "the next few months," White says.
Built using some of the technology from WINE, or Wine Is Not an Emulator, the venerable software technology that allows Windows applications to run under Linux, White describes the programming effort to create CrossOver, "as an enormous amount of work."
Not Easy
"It is a huge job. Windows contains 15,000 function calls, each of which takes a day to write," White says. "We essentially have to implement everything that has not been done, so if there is a DLL Microsoft has that WINE doesn't have, we have to implement that DLL. It took us nine months just to make that happen," White explains.
White admits there are other technologies in the market that allow users to run Windows under Linux, such as VMWare, but require the use of emulators.
"Some programs allow you to do it but you basically are booting Windows within Linux, sort of like booting a PC within your PC, so it is slow and you must have a Windows operating systems license," White says.
Antitrust Concerns
Testifying just this week in federal court as part of the Department Of Justice case against Microsoft , Red Hat's Chief Technology Officer Michael Tiemann said one of the reasons Linux has been unable to loosen Microsoft's iron grip on the desktop software market is that Office is not available for the open-source operating system.
He said that Microsoft has shown little interest in disclosing enough technical information about how Office works in order to ensure that clones of that program could work properly. Whether the courts will force Microsoft to give up such technical details apparently does not matter to White.
"Frankly I am here to fight just this sort of fight. I know I am tilting at the windmills, but I am not going to put down my lance just because the windmill is big and scary," White says.
CrossOver Office costs $54.95 per user and is available immediately.