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    Crossover Mac? Run Windows apps without installing Windows?

    Discussion in 'Apple and Mac OS X' started by GeorgineVJ, Sep 3, 2006.

  1. GeorgineVJ

    GeorgineVJ Notebook Consultant

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    On CoolOSXApps, I saw a reference to Crossover Mac (in beta) which says that you can install this and run windows apps without installing Windows. Am I losing my mind, or is this true? Anyone playing around with this? If this was true, I might be interested in it, but I don't want to install anything like this without hearing some feedback first. It's attractive to me because I don't want to install Windows, but I have some software I'd love to run. I just don't see how it would work well based on my understanding of how Windows operates.

    Any insight? Thanks! Oh, and here's what I'm talking about:

    Codeweavers beta of CrossoverMac
     
    GeorgineVJ, Sep 3, 2006
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  2. sathyaterry

    sathyaterry Notebook Evangelist

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    sathyaterry, Sep 3, 2006
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  3. masterchef341

    masterchef341 The guy from The Notebook

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    no comment on "Crossover Mac" - but certainly many windows programs can run in OSX through emulation of xp.

    i would look into it instead of discounting it.
     
    masterchef341, Sep 3, 2006
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  4. GeorgineVJ

    GeorgineVJ Notebook Consultant

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    Thanks for the info!
     
    GeorgineVJ, Sep 3, 2006
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  5. cashmonee

    cashmonee Notebook Virtuoso NBR Reviewer

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    The problem with Crossover Office is that it does not support every Windows app, or even most for that matter. Plus it will never be as fast as Parallels or obviously Boot Camp because it is essentially translating every call.
     
    cashmonee, Sep 4, 2006
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  6. xbandaidx

    xbandaidx Notebook Deity

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    Well considering the fact that many are using Dual core processors now, the noticing of speed difference between emulation and native is almost becoming something nonexistance, I've ran a few different applications under crossover already, and all ran smoothly, I could not tell the difference between native windows speed and emulation.

    Anyways its not even emulation at all, the processor architecture is the same so technically its not emulation on hardware level but on API it is, anyways like I said dual cores these days really pull the carpet underneath anything such as be able to tell the difference.

    Just look at the new Mac Pro, the benchmarks show that programs that are not universal yet are running even faster than the native architecture the programs were built on.

    So really emulation or translation has no place anywhere these days on anything that has Dual core or more cores.
     
    xbandaidx, Sep 4, 2006
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  7. Wooky

    Wooky Notebook Evangelist

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    Being pragmatic - try it, it is a free beta. Bear in mind that it ought to be better in a final release. That said, Paralells and VMware for Mac, when it comes out, will be probably a much better solution performance and compatibility wise. The situations I can imagine preferring a solution like Codeweavers' are when you a) aren't interested in buying a copy of windows or b) can't spare the disk space c) the particular app you'd like to run runs really well.
     
    Wooky, Sep 4, 2006
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  8. GeorgineVJ

    GeorgineVJ Notebook Consultant

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    Wooky: that's what I thought. I don't want to buy windows, but I have a few odd pieces of sw that I'd be interested in playing with.

    I'm really trying NOT to go there though. I think for now I'm just gonna forget about Codeweavers' solution. I was just thinking about a few games etc. I'm sure if I look hard enough I can find what I'm looking for (Atari emulators that I can run my RAMS on and some old PC games).
     
    GeorgineVJ, Sep 4, 2006
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  9. Wooky

    Wooky Notebook Evangelist

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    Wooky, Sep 5, 2006
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  10. gridtalker

    gridtalker Notebook Virtuoso

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    Thanks good info
     
    gridtalker, Sep 5, 2006
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