I know it’s a slow news day and all. Not like anything was announced or anything…
Anyway, let’s talk Windows. Since we got BootCamp way, way back … and then Parallels and VMWare Fusion (and before that anyone remember the Orange cards you’d install to run Windows on a Mac?) Mac users have been trying to find the best way to run Windows apps on their Macs. Yeah we love our Macs, but sometimes we have to use a Windows app. Personally I’ve always gone the Parallels/VMWare route, I’ve tried Wine a couple times but it couldn’t run the apps I wanted/needed. Now there’s a commercialized version of Wine called Crossover XI and guess what? It’s part of a new bundle we’ve got!
Here’s what Crossover is about. It’s an app that brings a lot of the key Windows DLLs and files to your Mac and lets you run EXEs (the app handles the running and such) just like any other Mac app. It’s a pretty cool process. Crossover is built on the foundation of the open source app called Wine that does the same thing, but is free and well doesn’t have developers tweaking and tuning to try to make as many apps run with it as possible.
My advice is that if you have a specific Windows app you want to run and aren’t sure if Crossover (or Wine) will work you can check the compatibility lookup on the main Crossover site, download the trial and give it a shot.
Of course Crossover IX isn’t the only app in the bundle–otherwise it’s not really a bundle is it—so you could be inclined to pick up the bundle regardless because you’re still getting a ton of great apps for a great price.
Here are the rest of the apps:
- Snippets ($40) – Keep all of your code at hand and reuse it in an elegant matter.
- Espionage 3 ($30) – Mac security, evolved.
- Screen Rulers ($25) – Easy, powerful and accurate virtual screen rulers for your Mac.
- GarageTunes ($5) – Play music from every Mac in your network and use any connected Mac as a speaker.
- Syncovery Pro ($60) – Back up your data and synchronize PCs, Macs, servers, notebooks, and online storage space.
- Paperless ($50) – Sustainable. Responsible. Powerful. A paper free life – all from your Mac.
- Archy ($9) – Bringing Google Drive to humans.
- GaragePlay ($25) – Easily manage your PayPal transactions on your Mac.
- Ronin ($174) – Send invoices and get paid on your Mac.
So Crossover is worth $60 on its own and the rest of the apps together are worth $443 (for a grand total of $503), but this bundle is only $50.
I’d say if a couple of the apps (I’m looking at Syncovery and Paperless myself) appeal to you, go for it. If you’re only buying for Crossover, I’d check the demo on their site.
Now if you’ll excuse me I’m going to see how much my iPhone 4 is worth…
