So yesterday afternoon I posted some glowing info about the new CrossOver Office, and some folks wanted further clarification, especially vis a vis Win4Lin. Let me just say that I've had GREAT experiences with CrossOver. Earlier this year I finished a book for O'Reilly (Don't Click on the Blue E!: Switching to Firefox) that forced me to use Word (since their template is a VBA-laden beast), and XOver handled everything with aplomb, even a VBA-laden template. I just finished a forthcoming book on Knoppix (Hacking Knoppix) for Wiley, and the same thing happened, with a totally new VBA-encrusted Word template. Yet XOver handled it with aplomb. And now I'm doing it again, for a upcoming book on the Linux command line (more on that down the road!). New VBA-besmeared template; same story.

I've used Dreamweaver, Excel, various Windows browser plugins (incl. Shockwave, QuickTime, & even WiMP), & even Photoshop (just a little) - everything has worked just great. The XOver install is a piece of cake, Windows programs installed fine (as long as they're supported by XOver), and those programs work fine & dandy.

This has been true for Red Hat 9, which I don't use any longer, K/Ubuntu, SUSE 9x, Xandros, & Libranet.

As for Win4Lin, well, it's good, but if all you need is Office, I'd use XOver. Heck, Xandros comes with XOver already included. If you need all sorts of Windows programs that aren't supported by XOver, or if you want to hide Linux from your users & make them think they're using Win98, Win4Lin is a better choice. Be aware that DirectX 3D isn't supported by Win4Lin, but I've never cared.

(Check out all of our posts on CrossOver Office and Win4Lin.)