Anyone using Win4Lin Pro? (V5 I think)

[hewitt_tech]

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Ben Scott" <dragonhawk at gmail.com>
To: "hewitt_tech" <hewitt_tech at comcast.net>
Sent: Thursday, August 11, 2005 5:16 PM
Subject: Re: Anyone using Win4Lin Pro? (V5 I think)


On 8/10/05, hewitt_tech <hewitt_tech at comcast.net> wrote:
> Because we have certain applications that will only run under Windows, I 
> was
> thinking about picking up a copy of Win4Lin Pro. Is anyone using it and if
> so, what are your impressions?

>>  I haven't had a chance to try Win4Lin Pro yet.  But I've heard and
>>read some.  W4LP is apparently a completely new product.  Despite the
>>name, it has little to nothing in common with the "Win4Lin" product
>>(AKA "Merge").  W4LP is apparently similar to VMware in design and
>>function.  Both are fairly complete VM implementations, but both also
>>entail a fairly heavy performance hit.  Since VMware has been around
>>much longer, I would expect it to be the more mature product.

That's what I was thinking. I already use VmWare on a Windows host and the 
performance is reasonable for my needs. After reading the comments in the 
user forum for Win4Lin Pro, I was having second thoughts about using that 
product especially since the price differential is not all that great.

 >> Win4Lin (sans "Pro") is also a VM, but one specially designed to run
>>Win95/98/ME.  It has been around, in one form or another, for years
>>and years, and is fairly mature.  Given the more limited design scope,
>>it is able to achive much better performance then with W4LP or Vmware
>>also does some neat things with filesystem integration with Linux.
>> If the software you need to run will be happy running on Win9X,
>>Win4Lin is a good alternative environment.  Of course, when it works, Wine 
>>is much faster then any
>>VM, and you often don't need a Windows license.


As luck would have it we use Quickbooks and starting with the 2005 version 
Intuit has decided to no longer support any form of 9x OS. That forces you 
to either run on some form of NT platform (NT, 2k, or XP). One subsystem 
they've started shipping with their products is MSDE (Microsoft's low end 
SQL Server database). I like the idea of Wine but it's pretty much an 
erector set. I looked into CodeWeavers Crossover Office product but it 
doesn't really support Intuit products very well. I think I may try to go 
away from Quickbooks in favor of an open source accounting package. I'll 
need to continue to support these products in my consulting business but 
that doesn't mean I personally need to use the stuff. I'm slowly but surely 
coming around to my friend Bill Sconce's point of view that if it's a 
proprietary solution, I just don't need it....


-Alex  "I see Windows boxes all around me - they're broken but their users 
don't know it"






>> Hope this helps,