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Wine Software

CrossOver Plugin 1.0 Demo Version 196

Posted by Hemos from the look-at-the-purty-pictures dept.
jwnewman writes "CodeWeavers has released the Demo version of CrossOver plugin." I bought the regular version when it first came out, just to try it out. It's pretty impressive - I've only had some problems with it under Konqueror, but that's had more to do with my plugin setup. The demo version is a full version, but with nags in it. It's well worth checking out.
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CrossOver Plugin 1.0 Demo Version More

CrossOver Plugin 1.0 Demo Version

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  • Programs Like These (Score:5, Insightful)

    by artlu ( 265391 ) <artluNO@SPAMartlu.net> on Monday November 05, 2001 @03:18PM (#2524287) Homepage Journal
    Personally, i feel programs like these are great. However, having to pay for them takes the purpose out of any free operating system. I'd just assume use windows for those programs, rather then pay a company to allow me to use those programs on a different operating system. Although, i understand why these programs have to be paid for. With the current American Economy, noone will develop anything without a monetary incentive. I just hope somewhere there is someone with extra time who will design a program such as this out of the goodness of his/her heart!
    AJ

    • Re:Programs Like These (Score:5, Insightful)

      by Sancho ( 17056 ) on Monday November 05, 2001 @03:31PM (#2524369) Homepage
      What about stability? Choice? Security?

      Honestly, though, these sort of tools may ultimately hurt the free operating system world because it means that the companies that write the 'doze only software will be less likely to write ports to alternate OS's.

      Regardless, I would love to have workign DirectX stuff :)
      • Eventually, the mentality will have to change. If you want something that isn't *required* like pretty plugins or games - you're going to have to pay for them. The sooner the Linux user-base realizes this, the faster companies will develop/support/sell Linux software. End of Story.
        • To an extent, but also realize that the cost of development will almost NEVER be worth the profits they'd make selling to Linux users. Sure, if they use a cross-platform development tool, but then still there's the learning curve for that, the cost of the tool, etc....
      • Security? Quote from their webpage:

        "CrossOver also integrates with Gnome and KDE to let you transparently open any Word, Excel or PowerPoint file. But even better, you can open this type of attachements directly from any mail client."

        This doesn't sound like "better" to me.
    • I'd just assume use windows for those programs, rather then pay a company to allow me to use those programs on a different operating system.

      Mmmh, i rather pay 20$ to codeweavers than 200$ to Microsoft...

    • For me it works... I don't have windows, I don't want windows, but today I wanted to see the Star Wars trailer... I bought the program and I'm quite happy with it... it works fine (exept for a small problem installing quicktime, but they already fixed it)... so this makes sense for some ppl at least
    • With the current American Economy, noone will develop anything without a monetary incentive.

      Without such an economy, you would not have your nice personal computer, nor would you be able to post your opinion on an extremely popular site like slashdot.
    • CVodeWeavers has fucked this up. Codeweavers normal buisness MO is "Pay us to make shure your companies software works under Wine," i.e. you might DL a linux version with a built in Wine when you wen to the Plugin makers site.

      I don't know why they are tring to charge end users for this product. Dose it handle ActiveX controls? That would be a lot more reasonable as ActiveX would be hard to do independently and Microsoft would not pay them to do it (to say the least). Hell, isn't Microsoft killing support for all plugins but ActiveX based stuff in XP anyway? It might be that this product may be too late to market to corperations, so they are just tring to get a little money out of casual users to recoup their investment.
    • However, having to pay for them takes the purpose out of any free operating system. I'd just assume use windows for those programs

      You just don't get it, do you?

      How many times do people have to repeat 'free as in speach, not free as in beer' before you get it? I've no objection to paying for software. I'm a programmer. I make my living through other people paying me for my work, it would be completely hypocritical to refuse to pay other people for their work.

      The issue is not whether it costs, but whether we can use it freely. And if we can't use it freely, is the cost in freedom worth the return?

      I don't have Windows on my box. I don't want Windows on my box. I would, occasionally, like to be able to view QuickTime movies, but I can live without. Am I prepared to pay eighteen dollars to see them? Perhaps. But if there was an open source alternative, I'd be more prepared to pay the originators for it - because it's worth more.

  • I dunno.... (Score:1, Insightful)

    by shanek ( 153868 )
    For some reason, it bugs me that I have to pay money to use free (beer) plugins on a free (beer&speech) OS. Nice that they have a demo, though. I'll give it a shot; maybe it is worth the price.

    • Re:I dunno.... (Score:5, Funny)

      by DAldredge ( 2353 ) <SlashdotEmail@GMail.Com> on Monday November 05, 2001 @03:35PM (#2524389) Journal
      Does it bother you that you have to pay for your computer system (hardware) too???

      • Re:I dunno.... (Score:1, Funny)

        by Anonymous Coward
        Actually it does.

        I hate having to pay $500 for the CoolerMaster case I'm going to place my $1800 dual Ahtlon system in.

    • Missing the point (Score:2, Interesting)

      by matty ( 3385 )
      The three posters above me have completely missed shanek's point, namely that these plugins are available for free on Windows and Mac. He's simply saying that it's too bad that we don't have the same free (beer) access to these plugins that Windows and Mac users have.

      While it's true that he's getting his OS for free, what about those who buy Red Hat or Mandrake or whatever? Why should they have to pay for something that Windows and Mac users get free? That's his question really.

      I intend to try it, and I'll pay for it myself if it works, though. I use Debian and therefore never have to pay for my OS. :)
      • Thank you; at least there's one person who reads the entire message before having a kneejerk response. I even said, "Maybe it is worth the price," and maybe it is. I have nothing against paying money for software. I have purchased quite a lot in my time. It just seems weird to buy software that gives you access to free software...
      • The three posters above me have completely missed shanek's point, namely that these plugins are available for free on Windows and Mac.

        Actually, they're free under linux as well. You're not paying for the QT plugin, or the Shockwave plugin. You're paying for an application which lets you use those plugins on the OS of your choice (assuming, of course, that OS is linux).

        Why should they have to pay for something that Windows and Mac users get free?

        Because it's unreasonable to expect every company to spend time developing their application to run on every conceivable OS.

        Dinivin
        • it's unreasonable to expect every company to spend time developing their application to run on every conceivable OS.

          It's not every conceivable OS. It's Linux. I'm sure you've heard of it - the operating systme that is taking over the low-end server market and is just now starting to get some traction on the desktop?

          I would agree with you if someone was asking for the applications under discussion to be ported to, say, OS/2 or the Acorn. But Linux? If Linux isn't "mainstream" it's certainly the next-thing to it these days. It has at least as much impact as Mac, in my opinion.
    • It's attitudes like this that are holding back Linux in the mainstream.

      Some people want a free OS and want to buy quality applications with a company behind them to support them... Or take fault when your company invests time and energy and then something breaks.

      You can have your cake and eat it to. Don't complain when someone come out with a closed source app for Linux. Go Codeweavers!

  • Reasonably priced.. (Score:3, Interesting)

    by A Commentor ( 459578 ) on Monday November 05, 2001 @03:23PM (#2524320) Homepage
    At $19.95, it seems reasonably priced, but it adds up since I have several Linux Boxes at home...

    Maybe they should have some 'home' (non-business) site license for about $25 ;-)

    • As I understand it, you're licensed per user, not per box. So, as long as you're the only one using the plugin, you can install it on all of your boxes...home, work, etc.

    • Re:Reasonably priced.. (Score:3, Insightful)

      by Quikah ( 14419 )
      Seems overpriced to me. I would buy it if it was $5, maybe $10, but $20 seems a bit much for its functionality. I will try the demo version and if the nags are like the Quicktime nags on windows then I will not bother buying it (just like I do with QT on Windows). Really the only reason I would use it is for the occasional Quicktime trailer, not worth $20 to me.

      When they include Windows Media (which it seems more websites are using unfortunately), it might be worth $20.
      • I think it's certainly worth the $20, given that in addition to the "webby" plugins (QuickTime, Flash, Shockwave) it supports viewing of the common MS Office documents (Word, Excel, PowerPoint) in your desktop (gnome/kde) environment and mail client. The second part is really valuable becuase here where I work (a consulting shop; we do mainly custom programming, sysnet admin, and graphic design; everybody but the designers wishes they had unix desktops), and I imagine this isn't an uncommon situation, the only thing keeping us tied to windows is clients sending us documents in MS Office format. Also consider that the average techie probably makes between 30 and 60 thousand US dollars a year (here in the States anyway). So $20 is maybe an hour or so of your time, compared to the continual annoyance of win32-specific file formats, that's not a bad tradeoff. The only thing stopping me from ordering it right away is that I'm oscillating between wanting linux (slackware) or openbsd for my workstation...
      • Use wget to grab the .asf file, then use mplayer (which uses windows .dlls for codecs) to play ythe file. Works for me.

  • A good way to profit from free software? (Score:5, Informative)

    by CptnKirk ( 109622 ) on Monday November 05, 2001 @03:25PM (#2524327)
    I really like the CrossOver plugin. Specifically it give me access to Quicktime and Shockwave content not previously available to Linux users. Sure there are other reasons for this, and it would be nice to target the root of this problem, however this is left for another discussion.

    My question is whether others out there think this is a good software model? Personally I think it is. They have identified a genuine lack of service which they provide. They provide this service by building on open source technology, namely wine, and then provide a closed for profit products on top of this technology. The revenue generated by these products allow for greater development in the underlying tech (again namely wine) while still providing the desired service, the Windows plugin support.

    Aside from the "well these plugins are free on windows, we shouldn't have to pay for a product that lets us use them in Linux" comments. Do people have anything else they'd like to say about the CrossOver plugins or their business model?

    • They have an interesting coming soon product [codeweavers.com]. I'm referring to the second item, basically a simple client workstation built just to run Windows apps, but without purchasing Windows. I don't think this'll take off for internet appliances (might as well make a special Linux distro for that with custom apps), but it may open some eyes to other possiblities. Maybe distros built specifically to replace MS licenses. Maybe transitional product lines for moving MS users to free-as-in-speech platforms. I think making that transitional product is a great idea, and of course charging for it is logical and potentially very profitable in the long run.

      Having transitional products is the best way to show corporations how much money they can save from MS licenses, while getting them onto free software. This is very and sounds like a great business model (at least for this specific product).

    • Hell yes, it's a good idea! They've figured out a way to get paid for doing useful work. What could be wrong with that?

      Sloppy gives Codeweavers a Thumbs Up.

  • Quicktime takes over my .png files, and netscape can handle that quite well. For quicktime movies it's quite impressive though. Just need mediaplayer support and then I'm all set :)

  • Winzip (Score:2, Redundant)

    by Spy Hunter ( 317220 )
    This demonstration version will let you use all of the CrossOver functionality, except that from time to time, you will be given a reminder to purchase our product.

    So basically, this will be like Winzip: everyone uses it, nobody pays for it. I wonder how long until the crack comes out...

    • Re:Winzip (Score:3, Insightful)

      by Some guy named Chris ( 9720 )

      No, actually, unlike Winzip, which only nags you each time you start the program, CrossOver nags you about every 15 seconds, and places the nag right over the top of what you are watching. So, there is an incentive to pay for the thing.

      Personally, I applaud the creators. While the nag is annoying, I'm rooting hard for anyone who can release good, useful, commercial software for Linux and make a buck or two off it.

      What people won't pay for are the trivial little programs you see announced on freshmeat.net hundreds of times a day.

    • Actually, some people do pay for WinZip. I did back when I was still using Windows. Theft is still theft, even if its easy and there is no chance of getting caught.
      • >Theft is still theft, even if its easy and there is no chance of getting caught.

        Tough luck on that. I've never seen (decent) software in anything but a locked glass case in a store with on-duty personnel. Then again, considering what winzip sells for, maybe it isn't behind the glass case.

        Or did you mean copyright violation? The dictionary very distinctly says it and theft are different things... I've never commited larceny [dictionary.com] (syn. theft [dictionary.com]) in my entire life. Ever.

        However, being the imperfect being I am, I may have accidentally violated [dictionary.com] copyright [dictionary.com] or commited an act against software law [dictionary.com] by using winzip for longer than the trial period.

        Sometimes, agreeably, the dictinary can be contrary [dictionary.com], in which case it's probably prudent to take the base definitions and the dates into account. Older words whose base definitions have remained the same longer are, IMHO, considered more correct than "updated" definitions combining these words into a new meaning that doesn't resemble the base words whatsoever.

        (This is post #666 right? :-)

  • Download FTP Link (Score:1, Informative)

    by Hexact ( 22921 )
    The links for HTTP and FTP download don't work for me but I found the directory anyway [codeweavers.com] Clem.

  • Satisfied User (Score:4, Informative)

    by ChaosDiscordSimple ( 41155 ) on Monday November 05, 2001 @03:31PM (#2524368) Homepage

    I purchased Crossover [codeweavers.com] several weeks ago and have been completely satisfied. Quicktime [apple.com] works great. Being able to watch the Fellowship of the Ring [apple.com] trailer on Linux is great! Shockwave [macromedia.com] works well for many sites. (In particular, Shockwave plugins for stuff like 3D has problems.) Codeweaver's tech support mailing list is great, the developers reply quickly and are very helpful.

    While I would prefer that Crossover be free software [fsf.org], at least Codeweavers [codeweavers.com] is contributing most of their improvements back to the main Wine [winehq.com] project. Pretty much only the Crossover plugin itself is proprietary software. Buying Crossover is a great way to support the development of Wine and get Quicktime support on Linux right now.

    • Re:Satisfied User (Score:1, Flamebait)

      by kindbud ( 90044 )
      Being able to watch the Fellowship of the Ring trailer on Linux is great!

      Why? Does it look any better than watching it on Windows? Was it easier?

      Buying Crossover is a great way to support the development of Wine and get Quicktime support on Linux right now.

      Why not just get Windows? Why support a software vendor that refuses to support your favorite platform? Or do you consider "it doesn't break under Wine" to be good enough?

      • Re:Satisfied User (Score:4, Insightful)

        by ChaosDiscordSimple ( 41155 ) on Monday November 05, 2001 @03:55PM (#2524445) Homepage

        Why? Does it look any better than watching it on Windows? Was it easier?

        It looks the same. Compared to rebooting into Windows, it's significantly easier.

        I spend most of my time under Linux. I used only reboot into Windows for games and Quicktime. Now I only reboot into Windows for games. (And thanks to my Playstation 2, I don't boot into Windows for games very often any more.)

        Why not just get Windows?

        I have Windows, but I don't like it. I'm perfectly happy working under Linux. Crossover allows me to satisify my desire to watch Quicktime videos under Linux. Seems like a good match to me.

        Why support a software vendor that refuses to support your favorite platform?

        Because I'm a realist. Maybe as Linux's share grows we'll see Quicktime for Linux, but that's not going to happen in the near future. Refusing to use non-native software does nothing to improve the situation.

        Or do you consider "it doesn't break under Wine" to be good enough?

        I use Linux. I want to watch Quicktime videos. Apple is not going to port Quicktime Player to Linux in the forseeable future. Crossover solves my problem. So yes, it's good enough for now. One step at a time...

        • Why stop there?? Just head over to Transgaming [transgaming.com] and get rid of Windows once and for all.

          Like you say - I would rather give $5 a month to a company that is open source like Transgaming than I would to M$. So it might not mean native ports - but at least I am not feeding the beast (directly anyway).

          I will personally be buying the CrossOver plugin - and was actually thinking about doing so last night (funny how timing is) - but now that there is a demo I will get to try it out first - which is great.

          Derek

          • Why stop there?? Just head over to Transgaming [transgaming.com] and get rid of Windows once and for all.

            I have a subscription to Transgaming for just this purpose. Unfortunately Transgaming work isn't far enough along for my needs yet. By supporting them, I hope that this will change.

        • Maybe as Linux's share grows we'll see Quicktime for Linux, but that's not going to happen in the near future.

          I'm sure this has been discussed, but I haven't heard about it at all, really, so I'll bring it up: with Apple porting stuff to BSD-derived MacOSX, how hard would it really be (for Apple, presumably,) to create a "Cocoa" (or whatever) compatibility layer and just make stuff like quicktime work in linux? Seems like a good deal of the hard work has already been done...

          • ...with Apple porting stuff to BSD-derived MacOSX, how hard would it really be (for Apple, presumably,) to create a "Cocoa" (or whatever) compatibility layer and just make stuff like quicktime work in linux? Seems like a good deal of the hard work has already been done...

            I suspect Apple can get a high quality, Linux native port of Quicktime done relatively quickly and inexpensively. However, what value does it have for Apple? Will it increase sales of other Apple software? Not likely. Will they sell alot of copies of the Pro version for Linux? Not likely. Will the port strategically help Apple in any real way? Nope. In Apple's mind, Quicktime for Linux has no value, so investing any time or effort into it is a bad idea.

            Quicktime on Windows is a different story. It probably doesn't make Apple much money. I wouldn't be surprised if it cost more to develop than they make in Quicktime Pro sales. However, if Quicktime stopped being supported on Windows the world would move to another format (probably Windows Media) practically instantly. The market share of Windows is too important to miss. Apple needs Quicktime on Windows as part of their holding action. Linux doesn't have that leverage, so we're going to remain second class citizens for some time.

          • QuickTime for Linux (Score:2, Informative)

            by Canyon Rat ( 103953 )
            One problem with porting QuickTime to Linux is that QuickTime needs a complete Window manager API because it has its own internal API for managing windows, menus, dialogs, etc. These routines call through to the underlying API which must have a large common subset of functionality to support the x-platform nature of QuickTime. So while QuickTime for KDE or QuickTime for Gnome are reasonable concepts, QuickTime for Linux is not. Of course, there is already QuickTime for Java which uses the Java API and runs on Linux.

            The other thing is that Apple needs to do a LOT of work to bring the Cocoa API up to rough parity with the Windows, Java and Carbon versions. They won't make any commitments as to when, if ever, that work will be underway. If they took on Linux before Cocoa their developers would go postal.
      • **Why? Does it look any better than watching it on Windows? Was it easier? **

        Dunno. Don't have Windows. Don't need it anymore thanks in part to CodeWeavers and TransGaming.

        **Why not just get Windows? Why support a software vendor that refuses to support your favorite platform? **

        Because I'm realistic enough to realize that Linux is nothing more than a blip on most people's desktop radars at the moment. Also, if you would bother to read more about the product you are dissing, you would find that Apple was actually very helpful to the CodeWeavers team during the development of CrossOver. In fact, Apple went so far as to change some of the wording in the license to allow QuickTime to be run legally in WINE.

        **Or do you consider "it doesn't break under Wine" to be good enough?**

        For WINE, yes I consider it doesn't break "good enough". Since I don't pay for WINE, I'm willing to take my chances. However, that's not good enough for a product I pay for. Thankfully, CrossOver does everything it says it does and is considerably better than just "good enough"

        David
      • Why? Does it look any better than watching it on Windows? Was it easier?

        Easier than a reboot, yes.

        Why not just get Windows?
        Let's seen $20 or $200... hmmmmm, I think I'll go with CrossOver. ;)

        Why support a software vendor that refuses to support your favorite platform?
        Because I enjoy viewing shockwave and quicktime content (cartoonnetwork.com, for example) enough to swallow my pride and pay $20.00. But not enough to pay $200(full price for homeverion of XP) for the privledge of revamping my entire work style.

        Or do you consider "it doesn't break under Wine" to be good enough?
        Can I get my task done (whether it be editing XLS, writing code or viewing QT movies)? Then it's good enough for me. And if it's cheaper, that's even better.
      • Why? Does it look any better than watching it on Windows? Was it easier?


        Well, considering that Win2k has shitty support for my audio card, it certainly sounds a lot better under linux. And considering that it takes 3-5 minutes to reboot into Win2k just to watch a video clip, I'd say that the Crossover plugin is consderably easier.

        Dinivin
      • Why not just get Windows?

        Because a $20 piece of useful software made for a good cause is more important to me than a $200 piece of software that... isn't.

        Why support a software vendor that refuses to support your favorite platform?

        This argument can be (and has been) made against Wine in general - We don't like Windows, so we make Windows stuff run under Linux. Why? Because we can and because it's useful to do so. Running Office under Linux is a useful thing for the Linux community. In the case of Crossover, running Quicktime and other plugins under Linux is also a useful thing.

        Or do you consider "it doesn't break under Wine" to be good enough?

        After my previous statements, I will say this - yes, since it doesn't break under Wine, it's MORE than good enough - I'm running it under Linux. :)
  • I think the crossover plugin is a great idea, but I'm not sure how many people will go for the idea of paying to use plugins on linux that would be free to use under windows (AFAIK, those plugins are all free downloads for win). Kind of an odd turn, using the free Win version instead of paying for the Linux version...
    • On the one hand, you can pay CodeWeavers $20 and let them improve Wine. On the other hand, you can pay MS over $100 (I'm not keeping up with Windows prices. What's the going rate for the latest versions?). Either way, you need to pay something in order to use the "free" plugins. Might as well give money to someone who wants to help you out. (And pay less money too.)
    • Well, with that argument, you can go spend $299 on WindowsXP Pro to run your free plugins, or spend $19.95 for your free OS to run the free plugins.

      Software like this brings us closer to the reality of Linux becoming a desktop OS, and I'm all for that.
  • Note that the movie from the quicktime standalone screenshot [codeweavers.com] on their site is CmdrTaco's "Hamster Havoc".

  • Exceptional timing, folks (Score:3, Informative)

    by fobbman ( 131816 ) on Monday November 05, 2001 @03:43PM (#2524424) Homepage
    I cannot imagine a better day to release this than today [slashdot.org].

    Capitalize on all the frustrated geeks and their inability to find a non-Linux box to view the teaser.

    Lemonade always sells better when it's hot outside.

  • Experiences with Crossover (Score:5, Informative)

    by digitalhermit ( 113459 ) on Monday November 05, 2001 @03:51PM (#2524431) Homepage
    I purchased Crossover when it was released. There were a few initial setup problems but their support is very good. I checked their archives and found an answer to my problem (pugger.so was conflicting with the QuickTime plugin in Netscape). Though I didn't report any problems I received emails from their support staff just to make sure everything was fine.

    Performance is, for the most part, indistinguishable from a native Windows version on my 900MhZ Athlon. I understand that there is some initial delay the first time the plugin is started on slower machines. It's been fine for me though.

    Netscape *seems* to be a touch more unstable with the plugin installed. There are occasional long delays but I have not confirmed that this is not just some DNS timeout or other Netscape instability (I'm running 4.78... I have not tried installing on 6.1).

  • Spread of Mal-formed code (Score:3, Funny)

    by Motheius ( 449386 ) on Monday November 05, 2001 @03:54PM (#2524442)
    "But even better, you can open this type of attachements directly from any mail client."

    I am guessing it is only a matter of time before someone writes code that will wreak havoc on the linux community.

  • damn nice stuff. (Score:3, Informative)

    by Xzzy ( 111297 ) <sether@tr u 7 h . o rg> on Monday November 05, 2001 @03:58PM (#2524462) Homepage
    I generally don't buy software without having tested it out yet, and just playing with this software for ten minutes is more than enough time to justify the twenty bucks for the thing.

    First time I've been truly impressed with some piece of software for Linux in the past nine months or so, and this is to the point where twenty bucks for the full version seems like it's UNDER priced.

    Download the installer, run it, press a few buttons inside the config gui, and suddenly you can watch all the movies on quicktime.com.. with no stuttering or slowness.

    Damn fine piece of work guys.

  • CrossingOver Plugin (Score:5, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday November 05, 2001 @04:00PM (#2524469)
    Unfortunately, I accidentally downloaded the CrossingOver plugin by mistake, and now all the Web pages I view ask me a lot of vague questions about dead relatives.
  • I must be missing something, so flame away, thou trolling moderators, but where the hell is the full download at? Codeweavers seems to have a nice product if it works, but every download page links right back on top of itself, which is just about as annoying as trying to untangle scotch tape.

  • OK, OK (Score:1, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward
    You win, I'm turning communist. I guess I really had no choice. :(
  • Wow, I'm impressed, it actually works quite well. They got my $19.95.
  • Those nag boxes are really annoying, they pop up every few seconds and completely obscure what you're seeing for ages.

    One for every window you have open too.

    Friendly reminder screens as they are called couldn't be further from the truth.

    The quicktime pluggin seems to be working fairly well.

    It's not really usable unless u buy it i guess.

    Not too bad if you're using the player and not the plugin, since you can move the screen away from the nagboxes and still view it.

  • Another happy user... (Score:5, Informative)

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday November 05, 2001 @04:12PM (#2524540)
    If it counts, i'm another happy user of the CrossOver Plugin. What got me to jump on board and fork over cash for the 1.0 release? Easy. truth in advertising. [codeweavers.com]

    They made a point of telling the truth about their product and are making all due effort to support and enhance it. Great company who are doing a needed service for the Community. Not only that, they are a major supporter of the wine project. Got a few bucks? They deserve our support.
    As for me, the software has been absolutely flawless. I did have some issues on a Mandrake box but it ended up being Crossover was fighing a battle with Plugger. One minor plugin deletion / restart later it installed like a dream.
    Support the community! They deserve it!
  • Quicktime in Linux?! Is this legal? Has Apple sanctioned this? What about the people who own the rights to codecs, such as the Sorenson codec. It seems like something would have to be reverse engineered...

    • Re:Is this legal? (Score:1, Informative)

      by Anonymous Coward
      Yes it is legal. I read in an interview with the codeweavers folks that they changed the license to quicktime to make it ok to run it on an OS it wasn't designed for.

      Keep in mind this is *NOT* a reverse engineering of Quicktime; this is a piece of software that allows you to emulate just enough of Windows to run the Windows version of the Quicktime player.

      The better question is "Why doesn't Apple provide a player for Linux?"

      B

    • Re:Is this legal? (Score:2, Informative)

      by npietraniec ( 519210 )
      Yes, it's legal. They went to Apple and asked because the license said that the software could only be installed on the OS that it was written for. Apple actually changed the license so that they could produce this product?

      Why is Apple not just creating a Linux client is beyond me.

  • This "could" have been real progress for switching (Score:4, Interesting)

    by Mustang Matt ( 133426 ) on Monday November 05, 2001 @04:19PM (#2524577)
    If only these would have been released under some opensource license. These plugins could have been implemented in the next version of SuSE/Redhat/Debian/name your dist. and would have really bridged a gap for getting windows users comfortable with using linux on the desktop.

    Oh well, it's still cool news.
    • These plugins could have been implemented in the next version of SuSE/Redhat/Debian/name your dist.

      Save for debian, there's nothing that prevents SuSE/RedHat/Mandrake/etc. from bundling this with their "Official" distributions. I'm betting the guys over at Codeweaver would negotiate some kind of bundling price.
    • I got news for you: lack of Quicktime is very nearly last on the list of reasons why Windows users aren't switching to a Linux desktop.

      That a lot of Linux people think it's near the top is, ironically, one of the things that is holding it back.

      Here's some more news: no one will abandon Windows for Linux because of any Windows features Linux mimics, emulates or fudges. No matter how well Linux imitates it, Windows always does a better job of being Windows. Windows features on Linux are one of the few desparate strategies that might keep Linux from fading into useful BSD-like obscurity.
  • ...it works really well considering the layers it has to pass through.
    Yeah, it's a little slow but it's worth it to be able to watch Quicktime movies on my Linux Box. My friend and I both bought a copy because it isn't re-distributable but he sees potential for using it for other plug-in installations so it may be more useful than first thought.
    If you've got the $20 to spare then grab it. It probably won't be the worst $20 spent in your life even if you don't use it much.
  • If money is a limiting factor and you can only have one system, or OS - than this is a good solution. Or if you absolutely have to have side-by-side operability.

    Otherwise, I'd say until Linux is there (and I hate to say it, but it's not, yet) than either dual boot, or think about another machine for your "day to day" stuff, and other for whatever reason...

    I've always said, use the best tool to get the job done. If you're compromising here or there, than you're not really doing that.

  • For those that need it... (Score:3, Insightful)

    by cr0sh ( 43134 ) on Monday November 05, 2001 @04:33PM (#2524651) Homepage
    This sounds like a great product. I don't understand the people here who disparage it because you have to pay for it - there is nothing that says you can't run payware alongside (or on top of, as the case may be) open source and *gasp* GPL'd software. Don't come down on it because it isn't "free" or Free.

    Personally, I don't have a real need for this product, so I won't be buying it - I really don't ever see many QT trailers or whatnot to justify it, and all the Shockwave stuff can go out the window as well - give me quality content and information, I say.

    I would much rather see the development of an open source video codec on par with Sorensen, and have it become well developed and widely used, but I tend to doubt such will happen, as so much of the tech involved in such an endevor is locked up in patents.

    My main concern about such software (like this plugin) is that related to security - whether any exploits could be run against it to gain root access, or something. I tend to doubt this, and if you are running as a user, and you have a good firewall you should be mostly protected - but it is something I always have in the back of my mind...
    • Isn't there a native shockwave plugin for linux?
      • Isn't there a native shockwave plugin for linux?

        No. There's a native plugin for playing Flask / FutureSplash content (Flash 5) but not Director (Shockwave 8.5) content.

        Flash is generally used for making web pages be good looking, and Shockwave is used for interactive application, especially in the education industry.
  • Now even the slashgeeks will be moving from
    universally readable web pages to proprietary formats.

  • Finnaly a company that gets it! (Score:4, Insightful)

    by smammon ( 88123 ) on Monday November 05, 2001 @04:52PM (#2524756)
    An actual installer! It understands the differences in Distros and even puts links/launchers/icons into the menu systems of BOTH KDE and Gnome! Wholy cow!

    This is something that developers have needed to do forever. Forget the RPM vs DEB vs Tarball wars and make it easy for the user dammit!

    We all gripe about Micro$oft developing software that is just bloated eye candy with crappy (or no) guts. IMHO Linux developers have been too busy neating up the guts to notice that no one uses their program beacuse it takes two friggin days to satisfy all of the needed dependancies just to compile and then annother two to figure out where the damn thing's files should reside.

    Oh ya, after the install the product actually works as advertised too.

    These guys get my $20!!! Kudos Codeweavers!

  • how a REAL UNIX user would do it (Score:3, Insightful)

    by rasactive ( 528598 ) <onewland@@@gmail...com> on Monday November 05, 2001 @04:53PM (#2524762)
    wget http://movie.url/movie.mov -O movie.mov && wine C:\whatever\quicktime.exe

    Of course I'm sure some Dennis Ritchie wannabe is gonna reply to this and tell me how to do it with piping (you know you want to).

  • I tried it, its well worth it (Score:3, Interesting)

    by Christianfreak ( 100697 ) on Monday November 05, 2001 @05:02PM (#2524822) Homepage Journal
    Installed flawlessly, nice configurator, it looks nice and best of all IT WORKS. I was skeptical at first but then I got to see the Star Wars trailer. I'm going to shell out the $20 for it. Try it out you might be as surprised as I was.

    On a side note they don't disable the demo after 30 days. It looks like its more of an on your honor system. But it does put little messages to buy the software at the beginning of the movies. (At least in quicktime).

    Again though, this looks like it was well worth it and the $20 goes to Wine.
  • On the one hand, this allows people to lessen their dependence on proprietary operating systems. On the other hand, it means that some already proprietary formats become even more deeply entrenched as there is less incentive for anyone to create and use alternatives.

    On balance, I'd say: don't use it unless you really have a very compelling need. View MS Office documents in StarOffice or AbiWord and submit bug reports for any problems you find; that's how those programs get better. As for Quicktime, complain to the web site using it and ask them to use an open format instead (in fact, do that whether or not you actually have a Quicktime viewer).

  • Released 11/05/01, this update [codeweavers.com] fixes many bugs in the 1.0 release. Install was painless, and it seems to work great.

    List of Fixes in 1.0.1

    • Support for Powerpoint Viewer 97/2000.
    • Support for ModPlug.
    • Now available as a demo version.
    • Better handling of xalf via a new LDPreload option.
    • Fixed the 'XtDisplayToApplicationContext undefined symbol' that appeared with Mozilla 0.9.4 and later releases.
    • Fixed an incompatibility with the SVGA driver of the XFree 86 servers.
    • Fixed the title corruption that was occuring in QuickTimePlayer in 24bpp.
    • Fixed the QuickTime plugin progress bar behavior in 24bpp.
    • Fixed a clipboard related lockup that could happen during QuickTime installation.
    • Fixed the handling of file names containing spaces. Especially useful with the Microsoft viewers.
    • Updated to the new QuickTime installer and fixed the installer update issues.
    • Fixed the TechTV channel QuickTimePlayer freeze. All channels should work now.
    • Added 'out-of-the-box' printing support.
    • Added a quicktimeplayer.sh script to let you start the
    • QuickTimePlayer from the command line.
    • Added traces to make it easier to diagnose font problems.
    • Added the regapi Wine tool and a script, regapi.sh to launch it more easily.
    • Improved cleanup_crossover.sh to really kill all Wine processes.
    • Improved winedbg support to help us better diagnose problems.
    • Many other improvements in the pluginsetup interface, the documentation and various other bug fixes.
  • I just tried it out under RedHat 7.2. When I tried Quicktime it had no problem playing movies, but there is no sound. I tried using the powerpoint viewer on a presentation of mine, and all the fonts were messed up.

    So it still has a few rough edges. If it worked flawlessly, they would get my money right away...
  • Cool, now I have something to play movs :) So now I can play mpg/avi/asf/wmv with PyhtonTheater, DVD with Ogle (more likely my PS2), realmedia with the realone preview release (XVideo support :). What this plugin lacks that all my other players has is XVideo support... Of course it is undertsandable, but I won't be kicking my movs into fullscreen any time soon..
  • I installed the demo on my Linux box (Mandrake 7.2 using IceWM as my window manager). Crossover added itself to my IceWM menu file, except instead of simply *adding* itself to my menu file, it copied the default menu file *over* my menu file and then added itself to *that*. Basically, all of my custom changes to the default menu file were lost when I installed Crossover.

    Aside from that, it works great (although Apple seems to have found a way to make the Quicktime 5 plugin never cache a downloaded movie on your local machine, which is annoying as fuck -- I want to view it whenever I want, without having to re-download it every time. Can you say "waste of bandwidth"?). I don't know if I'd use the Crossover plugin enough to justify paying for it, but we'll see.
  • Install was mostly painless, but I did have to poke around a bit and 'activate' a couple of the plugins. Joe Average User might have some problems, but we're definitely getting closer.

    Those "friendly reminders" are anything but. Damned annoying, IMO. Also, my fonts in Flash animations looked suspiciously like the default font in Netscape (I use Moz0.9.5) after I installed it. I uninstalled it after a few short minutes, mostly because of the annoying reminders, and the Flash fonts reverted back to their previous appearance.

    While I do appreciate the usefulness of this product, Flash and Real already work for me, and that added to the annoying font issue make it not worth my $19.95 yet.

    YMMV...........
  • Is anyone able to stream videos in Netscape Communicator v4.78? about:plugins show MOV and QT is off. I checked my settings and they are checked. How about you guys?

    Thank you in advance.

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