Wine 8.0-rc4 Released With Another 25 Bugs Fixed

[user1]

If OpenAL is distributed together with your Windows application, have you tried to adding a DLL override and mark it as native? If my understanding is correct, it would make Wine choose the native Windows DLL over the built-in Wine implementation.

I haven't, so I might try that, thanks.

[Vistaus]

When can Wine get Office, Revit and SolidWorks working please?!? Though these days FreeCAD is becoming a more viable option for the last one.

Office already works with Wine, but you need CrossOver Office for that.

[zexelon]

Office already works with Wine, but you need CrossOver Office for that.

What version? Last i saw it was version 2007 or 2010. I will go look again also, if it works with a current version that is a game changer!

[Monsterovich]

Office already works with Wine, but you need CrossOver Office for that.

Why? Why use MS Office when you can just use Office 365? If you need the desktop version, you can use OnlyOffice and such.

[UseLinuxNotWindows]

I think we should just stand back for a moment and think about what a pity OS Linux on the desktop is in terms of API/ABI stability and support if its best part is an emulation layer for the stable Win32 API.

FTFY.

Also, you should think that maybe Windows is not a bad OS after all and using Linux amounts to constantly fighting with bugs and regressions and using Wine/DXVK, no matter how good they are, will always be a hit and miss depending on the title while in Windows you just install and run (aside from very old games using very old versions of Direct3D (before 8.0) but those won't always work with Wine either).

That has not been my experience! I started off (in the late 1980's) using BSD/Unix on minicomputers (like VAX 11/780), m68k Sun 3 workstations and similar proprietary systems. The PC revolution empowered people. There were different operating system (Windows, OS/2, SCO Unix, Desqview, Minix and many others). Windows took over and again there was choice - Microsoft Office, Wordpefect Office, Borland Office, Agility and lots of others. The same was true of development environments and all other kinds of software. That choice was rapidly eroded by the Microsoft desire for control and monopoly. I had jumped ship into PC development and was appalled at the erosion of choice and freedom.

In the late 90's I discovered Linux for myself beginning with Slackware and then distro hopping through RedHat, SuSE, Mandrake/Mandriva (now Magaia) and eventually Ubuntu (which I used for years). I switched to Linux Mint as I found it easier to use and less memory hungry than Ubuntu. I still use Linux Mint. It is ROCK solid, easy to use. There is NO constant fight with any regressions. I turn it on and it just works which was certainly NOT the case with Windows. Most of my family use Linux Mint. I did not force any of them to use it. They use it because it is free, easy to use, rock stable and reliable like I do. I am not a massive games player but Steam works very well on Linux Mint on my Asus ROG. Linux is not perfect but (IMHO) it is more stable and less problematic than Windows. I have being using Linux as my sole daily OS since 2007. I have no desire to use either Windows nor macOS. My own feeling is yoy use what works for you. If you prefer Windows then use Windows! The same goes for macOS. I have a Windows 11 VM (with a valid paid for license) for when I want to test applications on Windows itself. I can generate Windows binaries using minGW if I want to but these days I tend to write code purely for Linux. Linux is ubiquitous in IoT, embedded systems, on servers (especially VMs), in Android phones/tablets and in Chromebooks. I agree that it is still in the minority on desktops but it works for me.

Obviously I would prefer there to be more native games on Linux but there is a powerful monopoly (Microsoft) keeping this in place. MS trying to take over Activision Blizzard will not help that situation. You are not going to rewrite all that software but if you have Steam then the same games can run on Linux (especially SteamOS) and macOS. That's just being practical!. Can this allow you to run all games. No and you're right, if you want to run really old DirectX games then run Windows. Modern games, less so. The are a stunning number of games which run on Steam. It isn't perfect but it works for me. To be fair, I'm a software developer mainly interested in embedded systems and AI rather than as obsessed with games. You use what you like. Linux Mint works well for me and I love it. If you don't, use something else!

I don't think Windows 11 is a terrible OS. It does some things well but is horribly bloated (in terms of memory use), much slower than Linux on the same hardware, forces upgrades when you don't want it to and has a restrictive license. I wouldn't use it. Two of my best friends are (in turn) a macOS (ARM M1) user, a WIndows 11 user (on a desktop) and me (Linux Mint 22.1 on an aging 4yo Asus ROG). We are all happy with the platforms we use.

[oiaohm]

Recently I realized that Wine needs the Linux native OpenAL package to be installed in order for Windows software that uses OpenAL to work. Does anyone know if this situation will change when Wine will finish its PE conversion, or will it remain the same?

Why change? "I realize that WINE needs native OpenGL/Vulkan support to be installed in order for Windows software that uses the OpenGL/Vulkan API to work. Does anyone know if this situation will change when Wine will finish its PE conversion, or will it remain the same?"

There are two conversions. Wine converting to PE(dll) from the ELF-PE hybrid(dll.so files) does not change what the linux native dependencies are required todo stuff. So of Linux native OpenAL was required by ELF-PE after the conversion to PE will still require this.

The WoW64 alteration is bigger. WoW64 alteration fully working would mean you would only need one version of OpenAL native as in OpenAL 64 bit instead of OpenAL 64 and 32 bit back in the day. WoW64 work depends on the PE work being complete.

Neither PE or the WoW64 alteration will remove the need to have OpenAL libraries linux native. WoW64 work should get rid of wine linux 32 bit native library requirements on 64 bit bit systems when fully complete.

[oiaohm]

What version? Last i saw it was version 2007 or 2010. I will go look again also, if it works with a current version that is a game changer!

https://www.codeweavers.com/compatibility/crossover/microsoft-office-365

Current version if you pay. Wine mainline does not have anyone testing 365 commonly to know how badly broken it is. Crossover also has set of patches that are not acceptable upstream in wine.

Also the codeweavers is a runs well rating like the wine appdb gold rating so there are some issues that should be minor.

Why? Why use MS Office when you can just use Office 365? If you need the desktop version, you can use OnlyOffice and such.

There are legal requirements where some parties cannot use cloud based services. Not all MS Office documents open correctly in Libreoffice/OnlyOffice. Heck MS Office 365 Mac OS and MS Office 365 Windows and MS Office 365 online can all format same document differently.

MS Office is used a lot but its a pure nightmare when it comes to document generation repeatability.

[Monsterovich]

Not all MS Office documents open correctly in Libreoffice/OnlyOffice. Heck MS Office 365 Mac OS and MS Office 365 Windows and MS Office 365 online can all format same document differently.

Onlyoffice has good support for MS Office documents. And incompatibility is a problem that occurs even between different versions of native MS Office.

[Lanz]

I use FreeCAD with sheet metal extension and it works fine for small projects. Much better than few years ago.

I still find FreeCAD to be a bit crashy and cumbersome.

[oiaohm]

Onlyoffice has good support for MS Office documents. And incompatibility is a problem that occurs even between different versions of native MS Office.

Good support does not equal not being caught out. Parties paying for crossover can be like legal. Yes paying for multi versions of MS Office and having them installed all at once so they can open up a document that looking strange and compare the difference. Yes commonly on a Mac OS machine as well. The bottle/wineprefix thing.

Good support is not always good enough.

LIbreoffice being stable with it ODF format between versions is why it used by particular governments and national archives .

For your normal home users OnlyOffice/libreoffice lot of cases will be good enough. Little bit of formating error here or there does not matter that much. Formatting error or worse showing pre alteration version of text on legal document and not noticing due to version difference problem equals big problems for legal groups.

MS Office is basically cursed and due to it massive usage it causes massive problems that result in parties like crossover being able to make decent amount of money and Microsoft make a lot more in license sales.