What Is Wine?

Wine is the cornerstone of the CodeWeavers software development toolkit. Wine is basically an implementation of the Windows API running on top of Unix. From a layperson's perspective, you can think of Wine as an intermediary between the application and the operating system. So, when a Windows application says it needs a dialog box, it talks to Wine, and Wine in turn whispers discreetly to whatever Unix OS it is running on and says, "Give this application a dialog box." This conversation occurs thousands of times per second while the application is running. The application itself never knows that it isn't running on Windows — as far as it's concerned, it's making calls for services, and those services are appearing as they should. Thus, Wine is a generic replacement for the Windows OS. Indeed, a less technical way of describing Wine is to think of it is as though Windows is Tylenol and Wine is simply generic-brand acetaminophen.

What's the catch?

Conceptually, Wine is a "silver bullet" that allows rapid and widespread of adoption of Linux and Mac OS X, because it frees users from the need for Windows. Not only that, but because Wine is open-source, Wine comes without the need to send money to Redmond in order to use it. However, despite the potential for being a silver bullet, the reality of Wine is a bit less polished than that at the moment. While many applications work well, others work only so-so, and many don't work at all yet. Consequently, most Windows applications need some "spit and polish" (or more) before they will run with the same consistency as commercial-grade software. That's why we're here.

What is the difference between CrossOver and Wine?

CrossOver is a tested, supported version of Wine. It also contains various utilities for the installation, tuning, and system management of Windows applications. You can think of CrossOver as a core of free Wine wrapped by various proprietary utilities that make the product commercial-grade and consumer-friendly. That's our value-add.

What is CodeWeavers' role in the Wine Project?

CodeWeavers has developed the reputation of being "The Wine Company": the resource that serious customers turn to when they need quality help in migrating applications via Wine. Since 1999, CodeWeavers has been hiring the very best Wine developers. Chief among these is Alexandre Julliard, the long-time maintainer of the Wine Project itself. In addition to Alexandre's prodigious talents, we have consistently hired the very best Wine resources, recruiting them literally worldwide. CodeWeavers has contributed more to the Wine source code base than any other entity. We understand the resource - its strengths and limitations - more thoroughly than anyone else. As a result, we can deliver results with Wine more quickly and efficiently than anyone else.