News from CodeWeavers (Developers of CrossOver)

[chscag]

Below is an announcement that I received from CodeWeavers along with the latest update to CrossOver.

Interesting that they purport to be working on a solution to running Windows programs on Macs that are powered by the new Apple Silicon.

Announcing CrossOver 20.0 for Mac,… | Announcements | Community Forums | CrossOver Support | CodeWeavers

Announcing CrossOver 20.0 for Mac, Linux, and now Chrome OS!

www.codeweavers.com

 

[Slydude]

That's promising. I think I saw something recently about someone else working on this as well. Maybe it was the gang behind Parallels.

 

[chscag]

Yes, the developers at Parallels have already announced support for Big Sur. Nothing from them with regard to running Windows on Apple Silicon. But I'm sure they're working on it.

The problem with both CrossOver and Parallels, is that they will have to resort to some sort of emulation. Of course they both could have another method that works better.

 

[Slydude]

I used Parallels at first and then shifted to Fusion for reasons I don't remember. For my brain anyway, Fusion seems to integrate better with macOS. I don't have as much need to run Windows as I used to, so it's less of an issue than it used to be. I've got an ancient Windows box on hand when the need arises.

The ability to run Windows in a virtual machine on the ARM processor might be a big deal for some, though.

 

[pigoo3]

More flexibility is always appreciated!

- Nick

 

[Randy B. Singer]

Below is an announcement that I received from CodeWeavers along with the latest update to CrossOver.

Interesting that they purport to be working on a solution to running Windows programs on Macs that are powered by the new Apple Silicon.

CrossOver is based on the open-source code called Wine:

WineHQ - Run Windows applications on Linux, BSD, Solaris and macOS

Wine has been able to run on ARM-based processors for a long time now. So it isn't surprising that the CrossOver folks are adapting their product to run on Apple Silicon.

ARM - WineHQ Wiki

However, for anyone who has tried CrossOver on the Macintosh in the past...I wouldn't get your hopes too high that it will be a great solution for running Windows programs on Apple Silicon. It was never a really good solution on the Macintosh, even after many years of polishing.

 

[chscag]

However, for anyone who has tried CrossOver on the Macintosh in the past...I wouldn't get your hopes too high that it will be a great solution for running Windows programs on Apple Silicon. It was never a really good solution on the Macintosh, even after many years of polishing.

It has been for me. I've been using CrossOver for years.

It currently is able to run 32 bit Windows apps in macOS Catalina. I believe they've done a good job of using Wine and polishing it making it much less troublesome than trying to get Wine to work.

I've been able to run a Windows 32 bit game in Catalina and MS Office 2010 (also 32 bit) in Catalina.

The downside to CrossOver is that it's not free and they only give you one year of updates. Lately, however, they have been generous giving free upgrades.

There are other Wine derivatives out there for free, but getting them to work right can be difficult and sometimes just downright impossible.

 

[Randy B. Singer]

I've been able to run a Windows 32 bit game in Catalina and MS Office 2010 (also 32 bit) in Catalina.

For the few things that CrossOver runs perfectly, it's fine. But that's the problem. There are tons of things that it can't run, or which it can't run perfectly. This isn't my opinion, the CodeWeavers folks have lists of things that work and which don't:

CrossOver Runs Thousands of Windows Programs. Does it Run Yours?

We’re constantly testing and rating CrossOver’s compatibility with Windows software. From business and office to education and reference software, CrossOver runs thousands of Windows programs on Mac and Linux.

www.codeweavers.com

I guess that if I was only interested in running one or two programs, and if CrossOver ran them perfectly, that CrossOver would be an acceptable solution. But all things being equal, if I wanted to run Windows software, I'd go with a solution like Parallels or Fusion that could run anything that I threw at it perfectly.

I constantly hear from folks who have tried CrossOver and who have come away very disappointed.

 

[chscag]

Keep in mind that CrossOver and Wine can run Windows apps without installing Windows. For me, that's a plus. And now that CrossOver can run some 32 bit Win apps in Catalina, another plus.

The jury is still out to see who can come up with a viable solution to run Win apps on Apple Silicon. If Parallels succeeds and does it right, I'll invest in that and toss CrossOver. Time will tell.

 

[Lifeisabeach]

I guess that if I was only interested in running one or two programs, and if CrossOver ran them perfectly, that CrossOver would be an acceptable solution. But all things being equal, if I wanted to run Windows software, I'd go with a solution like Parallels or Fusion that could run anything that I threw at it perfectly.

I constantly hear from folks who have tried CrossOver and who have come away very disappointed.

I personally very much prefer Wineskin/Porting Kit over Crossover, partly because they let you make standalone packages that make Windows apps launch and run much like any native Mac app but mainly because those packages are more flexible and can be better tailored for each app. But that preference aside, running a Windows app under WINE (whether it's Crossover or Wineskin) will usually perform significantly better than running that same app in Windows using a VM, and certainly more conveniently than rebooting into Windows. There's nothing wrong with keeping both options available and using whichever one works best for a given app.

EDIT: Oh wow! I just read that the newly-released Crossover 20 now supports DirectX 11. This is pretty HUGE! Getting DX11 support under WINE has long been a highly desired yet seemingly impossible task.