Winehq.org - Windows Applications on Any OS

In development for a number of years and officially live today, Wine is a platform that allows you to run Windows programs without requiring that you have a Windows operating system. Programs that could previously not be run on Linux or Mac based systems can now be run using Wine which acts as a compatibility layer for running windows programs. The name of the platform has nothing to do with the fact that it has been in development for many years and has gotten better with age, rather, Wine stands for Wine Is Not an Emulator. What this means to the layman is that wine does not emulate Windows but actually serves as a replacement to the Win16 and Win32 API. Along with allowing you to use Windows applications, it also makes it easier to transfer code from one system to another.

“Think of Wine as a compatibility layer for running Windows programs. Wine does not require Microsoft Windows, as it is a completely free alternative implementation of the Windows API consisting of 100% non-Microsoft code, however Wine can optionally use native Windows DLLs if they are available.”

In its current state, Wine will especially appeal to programmers, developers and anyone else who needs to use a specific program that only has a Windows version. In the future, this piece of freeware could help to wean people off Windows and towards Linux, since it removes any need whatsoever to use Windows.

How stable is Wine? The stability of their solution will determine whether or not it can be relied on to replace the need for Windows or not.