Wine 1.0 Nearly Ready to Taste

Developers of Wine, the most widely used software for running Windows applications on Linux, have announced the upcoming release of Wine 1.0 -- scheduled for June 6, the 15th anniversary of the commencement of the project.

Given the project's limited resources, developers have proposed modest criteria for the 1.0 release, attempting to ensure that just four key applications work in top form: Photoshop CS2, Powerpoint Viewer 97 and 2003, Word Viewer 97 and 2003 and Excel Viewer 97 and 2003.

"It may seem disappointing that WineReleaseCriteria only lists four applications as 'must run well'," said a project spokesman on the Wine website. "The problem with expanding that list is that each new app adds a huge amount of testing to each release."

Only serious bugs in those four applications could stall the release, developers said.

Developers also have compiled a list of 100 well-understood bugs in popular applications that it is prioritizing for attention before the 1.0 release, though most of them are expected to be passed on to the 1.1.0 release.

The seemingly limited plans targeting version 1.0 mask an extensive achievement over the project's past 15 years.

The project counts 1,234 applications under the "platinum" category, meaning they "install and run out of the box". These include the core Microsoft Office applications, along with a wide variety of other software, and even some popular games.

Another 1,557 applications fall under the "gold" category of working flawlessly as long as some tweaks are put into place.

The project has also spawned a commercial counterpart in CodeWeavers' CrossOver Linux.

Google recently announced that it has been providing CodeWeavers with funding and developer expertise in an effort to polish up the compatibility of certain key Windows applications, including Photoshop and Dragon Clearly Speaking.