CrossOver Linux

CrossOver Linux allows you to install many popular Windows productivity applications, plugins and games in Linux, without needing a Microsoft Operating System license. CrossOver includes an easy to use, single click interface, which makes installing a Windows application simple and fast. Once installed, your application integrate seamlessly with your Gnome or KDE environment. Just click and run your application, exactly as you would in Windows, but with the full freedom of Linux.

CrossOver Linux lets you use many Windows plugins directly from your Linux browser. Plugins work on any x86 based Linux distribution and will integrate with most browsers including Firefox 1.x, Netscape 6.x, Konqueror, Mozilla, and Opera. CrossOver also integrates with Gnome and KDE to let you transparently open any Word, Excel or PowerPoint file. But even better, you can open these attachment types directly from any mail client.

The author created two versions of CrossOver Linux — Standard and Professional — to serve our home-user/enthusiast and corporate markets even better. CrossOver Linux Standard provides individual users with the ability to run a wide variety of Windows software cleanly and economically. CrossOver Linux Professional provides corporate users with the enhanced deployability and manageability features their environments demand.

Though each CrossOver Linux (formerly known as CrossOver Office) release offers substantial improvements, version 6.01 is the most revolutionary release we have seen since we started reviewing this product circa version 3.0. Many important new programs are supported, but the real news is not in the number of programs supported, but also their purpose: World of Warcraft, Half Life, and iTunes now have silver (almost perfect) status along with dozens of other applications. There are nine gold applications now as well. Overall, CrossOver has again made a number of significant and upgrade-worthy improvements to an already useful product.

What’s new in 6.01

The most significant new feature in 6.01 is support for popular online Windows games, namely Half Life and World of Warcraft. The second most significant change is in the name: with the introduction of an Apple-based product, CrossOver Office has officially become two separate Office products. Therefore the new name for the traditional CrossOver Office is CrossOver Linux, and the new Apple product is CrossOver Mac.

Also added in 6.01 is improved support for Microsoft Office 2003, native connections to Microsoft Exchange Servers via MS Outlook, and Microsoft Project and Visio 2003 are now supported as well.

Full Review