Breaking Windows: CodeWeavers and NeTraverse Bring Office to Linux

Time and again, one of the most common excuses about moving to Linux is that it does not have Microsoft Office. Never mind that OpenOffice.org provides most everything one needs, people are use to Office, and are not interested in changing, thank-you very much.

A few rumors over the years aside, there has never been much hope for a port of Office to Linux. Yet, what if one could make Office think it was in Windows and run it from Linux? That is exactly what two companies - Codeweavers and NeTraverse - have accomplished in two very different ways.

CodeWeavers CrossOver Office

CrossOver Office's installer.

CrossOver Office was release back in March, and I've had a copy for much of that time. Taking the queue from CrossOver Plug-in, CodeWeaver's WINE-based tool to make Windows Netscape Plug-ins work in Linux, CrossOver Office promises to make Microsoft Office integrate directly into your Linux desktop. Have they succeeded? In one word - “absolutely.”

The folks over at CodeWeavers are nothing short of geniuses - they have succeeded in making it a snap to install and operate Microsoft Office in Linux. You run a very friendly wizard-like setup tool, click a few buttons, insert the Microsoft Office CD, and then sit back for a typical Microsoft Office installation (save rebooting, which is not necessary).

Once you have completed the installation, CrossOver takes control back from Microsoft's installer and prompts you about which file types should be associated with Office. As a nice touch, all of the application icons that normally show up after install end up in their equivalent places in Linux for easy access.

Using the applications is pretty much what you would expect. The applications take a bit to launch, but once they load, everything works at nearly native speeds. Word opened documents just fine, as did PowerPoint. PowerPoint was even able to successfully enter into its full screen slide playing mode uneventfully. The most annoying problem we encountered was that Microsoft Word would hang a bit the first time we tried to open a document, however after that everything was smooth sailing.

< img src=”http://www.ofb.biz/images-un/reviews/win/codeweavers2-thumb.png ” align=”center” border=”0”> Microsoft Office appears to be a native part of the system.

Before getting to the other applications included in Microsoft Office Professional Edition, I should point out something that I really admire about CodeWeavers. Unlike many companies today, CodeWeavers seems perfectly content to under promise and over deliver. That is, they do not mind saying that an application is not supported by CrossOver Office, even if it is somewhat usable. This company deserves a thumbs up for its honesty that lets you know what to expect with their products.

That brings us to Microsoft Outlook, Access, and Publisher. According to CodeWeavers' web site Microsoft Outlook is partially supported, while Access and (by lack of mention) Publisher are not supported at all. However, in our tests we found that even Microsoft Publisher was working half-way decently. While Publisher suffered with some control and display problems, it worked well enough to at least view and do light editing on documents. Outlook turned out even better with most everything working, although it did crash a few times. Access, as CodeWeavers noted, does seem to work, however we encountered numerous problems, so it may not be quite time to start using it via CrossOver Office yet.

Finally, CrossOver Office also supports Lotus Notes, something that should prove useful for those stuck using the Notes web client. While it was lost on us what purpose running it in Linux would serve, Outlook Express is also supported should you need it.

All in all, CrossOver performs very well at its intended task, and even does a good job when pressed beyond its standard support. The extremely friendly software installation tool is definite bonus, making it a pleasure to install both supported and non supported software.

NeTraverse Win4Lin

Win4Lin's wizard-style setup tool.

While running Microsoft Office is probably one of the most common uses for NeTraverse's Win4Lin software, the beauty of it is that it can do so much more. Unlike CrossOver Office, which emulates the parts of Windows needed to get Office working, Win4Lin “virtualizes” an entire PC, so that you can run almost any Windows software inside its emulation box.

Like CrossOver Office, Win4Lin 4.0 includes an excellent installation utility that makes installing this complex piece of software amazingly simple. If you tried Win4Lin back in the 2.0 days and have been worried about enduring its difficult installation system again, never fear, as of last year's 3.0 release the system has a totally new, GUI-based installer.

As we mentioned a moment ago, Win4Lin 4.0 recreates an entire PC inside its window. One nice feature of this is that you can actually give Win4Lin a separate identity on a Windows network from your existing Linux PC using its virtual network card. If giving your PC multiple “personalities” is disturbing to you, no problem, Win4Lin will happily connect through your PC's existing network connect as well.

Win4Lin provides Windows inside a box.

Once you startup Win4Lin by clicking the conveniently placed icon on your desktop, something amazing happens. On our modestly equipped 750 MHz Pentium III, Windows 98 was booted and ready in less than 30 seconds and DOS access started nearly instantaneously. Even on much faster machines, one is hard pressed to ever see Windows boot up in that short of time under normal conditions.

After Windows starts, everything is business as usual, save the fact that you are running Windows inside Linux. Applications launch and run at somewhere between almost native and faster than native speeds, and as mentioned before nearly any Windows program you can throw at it will run. In other words, Win4Lin is an excellent way to run legacy Windows applications - even custom written software.

Win4Lin also plays nicely with the existing Linux system. The 4.0 release adds X Copy-and-Paste meaning that you can copy and paste between Windows and Linux applications. Also Win4Lin stores its virtual “hard disks” as normal folders under Linux, so it is a piece of cake to access any file in Win4Lin from the Linux system.

In our tests, Win4Lin ran Windows so well, we almost forgot Windows was not running natively. This is extremely good news for those forced to switch between the two operating systems, allowing them to finally quit rebooting or switching machines and just get work done.

Still, we did run into some problems, in particular related to CD-ROM access. The CD-ROM drive exhibited very poor performance while in Win4Lin, perhaps due to a conflict between Win4Lin and Mandrake's supermount tool. As a result, opening My Computer or the location selection in file dialogs was slow, as was installing software.

Overall Perspective

This all leads to the question, which one should you buy - Win4Lin or CrossOver Office? The answer really depends on your needs. If you are mainly interested in using Word and Excel, or the other applications supported by CrossOver Office, then that is definitely the best choice. CrossOver Office ends up being more affordable due to its lower sticker price and the fact that it frees you from needing a Windows license.

On the other hand, if you want to run applications not yet supported by CrossOver Office such as Access, Office XP, Quicken, or Photoshop, Win4Lin is for you. It is also for you if you use older Windows software or custom software that may never be supported by CrossOver Office. If you are currently using Windows, the cost of a Windows license is not of concern and the vast benefits of avoiding constant rebooting between Windows and Linux will pay off the Win4Lin license in no time.

In the end these are both top notch products and are worthy of deployment. OfB Labs highly recommends you analyze your needs and then pick the tool best suited for your legacy software.

Summary of CrossOver Office 1.0 Overall: A B C D F Installation: A B C D F User Interface: A B C D F Total Cost of Ownership: A B C D F Deploy: < table width=”100%” cellspan=”0” cellspacing=”1”> YES NO MAYBE

If you are looking for a way to quickly and easily run Microsoft Office in Linux, CrossOver Office is definately your answer.
www.codeweavers.com.
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Summary of Win4Lin 4.0 Overall: A B C D F Installation: A B C D F User Interface: A B C D F Total Cost of Ownership: A B C D F Deploy: < table width=”100%” cellspan=”0” cellspacing=”1”> YES NO MAYBE

Win4Lin 4.0 is a robust and complete solution for those needing to run virtually any Windows applications under Linux.
www.netraverse.com.

Timothy R. Butler is Editor-in-Chief of Open for Business. You can reach him at tbutler@uninetsolutions. com.