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posted by cmn32480 on Saturday November 28 2015, @04:58PM   Printer-friendly
from the don't-forget-the-cheese dept.

If your previous try with WINE wasn't all you'd hoped for, the additions to 1.7.55 may include just what you need.

Softpedia reports

WINE is an acronym for Wine Is Not an Emulator. [...] It's considered to be a compatibility layer in the same way you will find compatibility settings in modern [versions of Windows that allow you to runs apps that are only natively compatible with earlier versions of that OS].

[...] The improvements made to Wine are not usually all that transparent for regular users, as the developers write their changelogs mostly for other devs or at least for people who are watching the project a lot closer.

[...] There are two different changelogs for each Wine release, one that deals with the application itself, and the other one that reveals what changes and improvements have been made to support various apps and games.

According to the changelog, the PulseAudio driver has been added, various fixes for Microsoft Office 2013 support have been introduced, more work has been done for the Web Services DLL, more fixes for the latest C runtime version have been implemented, the Makefile generation has been improved, and other bug fixes have been implemented.

The list of supported games and apps has expanded with the following titles: Adobe Premiere 6, Adobe AIR / Adobe Media Player, Resolume Avenue 3.3.2, Cubis Gold 2, ArcSoft PhotoStudio, PowerDVD 10, Freelancer, Dungeons and Dragons, Star Trek Birth of the Federation, Guild Wars 2, Risen 2, Tomb Raider 2013, Sacred 2 Gold, valgrind, CCleaner, Emerge Desktop 6.1.3, Microsoft Office 2007, and numerous others.

Softpedia also notes WINE 1.7.x Branch Closed; WINE 1.8 to Launch Soon

The plan is to have a single stable version once a year, but it remains to be seen how this will work out for them.

[...] Until we have a chance to try the new model, we can't really say anything about whether it's right or wrong. What we do know is that Wine 1.8 has been announced, and it's coming in just a month or so.

1.7.55 is the last Version of the 1.7.x series.[1] It's likely to see Wine 1.8 until end of this year. Until then we'll have weekly release candidates. Please give them as much testing as you can, you're also welcome to improve translations in case your language isn't perfect yet".

[...] As a side note, the Wine developers have recently also reported that they managed to port the framework on Android, which is a great step forward, but they don't see a way of making money off that just yet.

[1] Rehash removes the ASCII whitespace in links.


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  • (Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday November 28 2015, @05:13PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Saturday November 28 2015, @05:13PM (#269150)

    Why would anyone want Microsoft Office Support in Linux using WINE? That's like wanting to use chevy heads on a ford block, sure you can force it to work, but there's already indigenous solutions... Use Openoffice or Libreoffice.

    • (Score: 2) by SomeGuy on Saturday November 28 2015, @05:22PM

      by SomeGuy (5632) on Saturday November 28 2015, @05:22PM (#269153)

      Nobody "wants" Microsoft Office, but many people NEED Microsoft office for all kinds of little things. Things that OO or LO won't quite do or won't quite do the same.

      If people only needed MS Office for writing simple letters, etc, then everyone would have dropped MS Office cold on the floor when they pushed out that shitty ribbon interface.

    • (Score: 3, Informative) by ledow on Saturday November 28 2015, @05:35PM

      by ledow (5567) on Saturday November 28 2015, @05:35PM (#269158) Homepage

      General Word - Agreed.
      General Excel - Agreed.
      VBA support - Nope (pretty important that stuff "just works" if your business runs off it).
      Powerpoint - Not really.
      Publisher - Nope (though it's barely compatible with itself).
      Outlook - Nope.
      Access - Nope.

      Notice that all the "not important" stuff works and can be replaced. All the back-end, important business stuff doesn't. Exchange compatibility is a HUGE issue for anyone working with other Windows people using a non-Windows environment.

      I'm not defending this. There are plenty of REPLACEMENTS. But there isn't a lot of compatibility with what's already out there. It's like saying "Don't use SMB, use NFS". Yes, if you can, that's a good, simple, no-brainer solution. But if you can't it doesn't help at all. And the very existence of Samba tells you that a lot of people need it.

      I myself run Windows networks. I have purchased several versions of Crossover Office and also put native Linux and Windows Libreoffice clients into my networks successfully. I have Linux servers in places, for certain functions. They all do LDAP authentication against the Windows domain, but not fully. They can act as domain controllers, but not fully. They can see, access, and create files on Windows shares, but not fully. And we could open Office documents and do some Exchange things, but not fully. Strangely, LibreOffice is better at opening old formats than Office, but still has a tendency to screw up Word files. And even a single screw-up is enough to make people say "Why don't we just use Word?".

      This isn't about "the word processor that works best on Linux". This is about "I have specific requirements to run program X and I can't on Linux but with WINE support, I can".

      A lot of the issue goes away with a change in business practices (e.g. moving to Google Apps, enforcing LibreOffice usage, replacing lots of paid-for critical infrastructure with a new LDAP setup etc.) but that's big and expensive and risky. Even then, in the transition, you either have huge conversion efforts, or ongoing compatibility requirements. Both of which can be satisfied by using WINE and the original programs.

      • (Score: 2) by frojack on Saturday November 28 2015, @07:47PM

        by frojack (1554) on Saturday November 28 2015, @07:47PM (#269198) Journal

        Side rant:

        NFS has been such a pain in the ass over the years that even in Pure Linux networks I've come to prefer Samba. It just works, and when the odd windows machine, android, or iPhone wanders into the shop those works as well.

        NFS required permissions and UID coordination for most of its life span, something only fixed by an entirely different package (LDAP). I've sworn off of NFS for the most part, other than my NAS supports it and its nice for some backup tasks. Its a Pain in the ass [time-travellers.org].

        We now return you to your regularly scheduled wine whine. (which is also something I avoid).

        --
        No, you are mistaken. I've always had this sig.
        • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday November 29 2015, @12:34AM

          by Anonymous Coward on Sunday November 29 2015, @12:34AM (#269283)

          Thank you for taking the trouble to state what should be obvious.
          Apology of NFS is something we, as a community, cannot stand for. NFS is the original SystemD.
          It wasn't named Nightmare Filesystem for nothing, you know.

        • (Score: 4, Insightful) by schad on Sunday November 29 2015, @12:51AM

          by schad (2398) on Sunday November 29 2015, @12:51AM (#269287)

          NFS required permissions and UID coordination for most of its life span, something only fixed by an entirely different package (LDAP).

          No, that's been a solved problem since NIS came out over 20 years ago. Much like every Windows network has an AD server, back in the 90s every Sun network had a NIS server. So when Sun came up with NFS, well, there was no point worrying about ID mismatches, because NIS would take care of that for you.

          If there's a problem here, it's that LDAP is still so nightmarishly complex in Unixland that I can actually envision myself recommending NIS under some circumstances. NIS should really fall into the same category as rsh: inferior in every way to the modern alternative. But as terrible as NIS is, it's likely to be better than the solution some "devops" guy rolls himself.

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday November 28 2015, @05:54PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Saturday November 28 2015, @05:54PM (#269162)

      Use Openoffice or Libreoffice.

      I think you mean: write plain text files.

    • (Score: 2) by theluggage on Saturday November 28 2015, @06:20PM

      by theluggage (1797) on Saturday November 28 2015, @06:20PM (#269174)

      Why would anyone want Microsoft Office Support in Linux using WINE?

      Because lots of other people use Office and while Libre/Open office does a creditable job of opening Office files (especially considering how crufty and badly defined the format is) its not perfect.
      Its fine if you're using OO/LO almost exclusively and occasionally have to open an Office file, but if you are regularly exchanging non-trivial files back and forth with Office users, it is intolerable.

      Sadly, not all of us are in a position to tell our colleagues or clients to dump Office.

    • (Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday November 28 2015, @06:41PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Saturday November 28 2015, @06:41PM (#269181)

      Why would anyone want Microsoft Office Support in Linux using WINE?

      Microsoft Office is designed by employees of the company that makes Microsoft Windows, and is frequently a showcase for many of the new, cool features of the operating system's API. Due to the importance of Office for Microsoft, there's a good incentive for Microsoft to make sure that Office is using the API in the correct way, and that the Windows API is designed so that Office works well. As a result of this, getting Microsoft Office working well will also get the majority of other Windows programs working reasonably well, and substantially reduces the number of programs required for testing the coverage of the Windows API within WINE.

    • (Score: 2) by citizenr on Sunday November 29 2015, @03:47AM

      by citizenr (2737) on Sunday November 29 2015, @03:47AM (#269330)

      Does this mean they finally fixed audio? Or is it still "fixed" by simply closing all UNFIXED audio bugs with RESOLVED FIXED without actually fixing them?
      https://bugs.winehq.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1631 [winehq.org]

  • (Score: 1) by Empyrean on Saturday November 28 2015, @06:43PM

    by Empyrean (5241) on Saturday November 28 2015, @06:43PM (#269182)

    Just in case anyone cares, I could not get World of Warcraft to work.

  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday November 28 2015, @07:05PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Saturday November 28 2015, @07:05PM (#269190)

    Everything else I get but this?

  • (Score: 2) by Appalbarry on Saturday November 28 2015, @07:45PM

    by Appalbarry (66) on Saturday November 28 2015, @07:45PM (#269197) Journal

    It's been an extraordinarily long time since I even had WINE installed on my Mint machine.

    The simple reason is that I can run "real'" Windows* inside VirtualBox and have Windows apps** running on Windows instead of force feeding them into Linux.

    We've long since reached the point where any reasonably recent PC has the resources to run Windows inside a VM with no problem, with the bonus that if I decide to upgrade my OS, or even move to new hardware, I don't need to bother re-installing Windows and Windows applications - just copy the folder over to the new system.

    * Windows meaning Vista, just because that's what I have on hand.
    ** apps meaning Accounting software, MS Office, and Photoshop

    • (Score: 2) by PinkyGigglebrain on Saturday November 28 2015, @08:28PM

      by PinkyGigglebrain (4458) on Saturday November 28 2015, @08:28PM (#269208)

      VMs are limited in the kind of GPU they can emulate.

      I have several graphic intensive games that are currently (and sadly for the foreseeable future) Windows only. So far they will not run in a VM but do work using WINE and playonlinux.

      Everything else I have run native on Linux. The only reason I have a Windows box at all is for the short and rapidly shrinking list of software I need to run occasionally that doesn't have a Linux version/equivalent and will not run in a VM.

      --
      "Beware those who would deny you Knowledge, For in their hearts they dream themselves your Master."
      • (Score: 2) by darkfeline on Sunday November 29 2015, @01:37AM

        by darkfeline (1030) on Sunday November 29 2015, @01:37AM (#269303) Homepage

        GPU passthrough exists, allowing you to run VM games at 95% performance. You do need the right hardware setup for it though.

        --
        Join the SDF Public Access UNIX System today!
    • (Score: 2) by urza9814 on Monday November 30 2015, @07:30PM

      by urza9814 (3954) on Monday November 30 2015, @07:30PM (#269864) Journal

      A lot of the apps I use Wine for won't run on any remotely modern version of Windows. At best they'll run on XP, but a lot won't even work there. But they run great on Wine.

      So, I could go pirate or ebay a copy of Win98 and hope it's clean, then allow some ancient OS that hasn't been patched in decades onto my network through a resource wasting VM...or I could just use Wine. Wine is a hell of a lot faster to set up too. And you don't have to worry about license fees. And you don't always have tons of hardware to throw at it -- for example, when you're trying to run some Windows app on a $5 VPS.

  • (Score: 2) by Adrian Harvey on Saturday November 28 2015, @08:14PM

    by Adrian Harvey (222) on Saturday November 28 2015, @08:14PM (#269203)

    Why the long quoting from Softpedia about 1.7 when the wine website ( winehq.org ) is already on 1.8-rc2. I get that pulse audio is new and good (Alexandre held up the 1.8 freeze to get it in). But the Solyent article is very long - did it really need so much text?

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday November 29 2015, @06:12AM

      by Anonymous Coward on Sunday November 29 2015, @06:12AM (#269363)

      The summary covers 2 articles and includes a quote from a WineHQ page.

      .
      FTFS: The plan is to have a single stable version once a year

      ...so most of their "releases" are really RCs.

      The big point I was trying to make is that there has been progress and some folks who were disappointed previously might now be satisfied.

      .
      Verbose? Perhaps. I did want to make sure nobody complained about not getting his money's worth.

      -- gewg_

  • (Score: 3, Insightful) by HiThere on Saturday November 28 2015, @08:43PM

    by HiThere (866) Subscriber Badge on Saturday November 28 2015, @08:43PM (#269221) Journal

    What I really want from WINE is better MSWind95, or even MSWind98 support. I switched over from MS quite awhile ago, and the only things I need support on are old programs that nobody bothered to do upgrades on or even file documentation.

    --
    Javascript is what you use to allow unknown third parties to run software you have no idea about on your computer.
    • (Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday November 29 2015, @06:27AM

      by Anonymous Coward on Sunday November 29 2015, @06:27AM (#269366)

      Did you miss this previous subthread? [soylentnews.org]
      What specific 9x apps have you found that aren't WINE-compatible?

      -- gewg_

      • (Score: 2) by HiThere on Monday November 30 2015, @06:16PM

        by HiThere (866) Subscriber Badge on Monday November 30 2015, @06:16PM (#269823) Journal

        I've got several old games that don't work on WINE, or didn't a year ago. (To be fair, one of them didn't work that well on MSWind95. It's hard to remember just how flakey a lot of old commercial software was.)

        --
        Javascript is what you use to allow unknown third parties to run software you have no idea about on your computer.
  • (Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday November 29 2015, @12:20AM

    by Anonymous Coward on Sunday November 29 2015, @12:20AM (#269278)

    Purging pulseaudio just got one step harder, as the packagers will only hard dep it, again.

  • (Score: 1) by Frost on Sunday November 29 2015, @08:12AM

    by Frost (3313) on Sunday November 29 2015, @08:12AM (#269381)

    [1] Rehash removes the ASCII whitespace in links.

    Replace each space character in the URL with "%20". The correct form of the link in question is:
    https://www.winehq.org/wwn/402#Code%20freeze [winehq.org]

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday November 29 2015, @11:34AM

      by Anonymous Coward on Sunday November 29 2015, @11:34AM (#269409)

      Did you send that comment through the Preview page?
      Not being signed in, I don't have that option and I think that makes a difference.
      [%20] <-- Those square brackets should not be touching.

      The submission page may have its own set of rules as well.

      -- gewg_