I've heard of it and investigated it a little bit and I think it will
work..... but if I need to install Windows to run these apps, why
shouldn't I just run Windows?
I don't quite understand Win4Lin? What I do understand is that it's
$89.95 and I already have Windows so I don't see where I'd gain by
using it?
One more problem, it supports Windows 9x which I haven't run for many
many years, I'm not sure I have any of the CDs now, I'd have to check.
I do have WindowsNT 4.0, Windows2000 and WindowsXP but I can't find any
evidence it will work with them?
It will only work with Win9x although a version that supports 2K and XP is
supposedly coming.
Win4Lin saves you from dual booting and it allows you to run Windows
applications simultaneously with Linux apps. You can even cut and paste
between Windows and Linux applications. Also it's easy to replicate and
backup your Windows environment, all you have to do is rsync your win
directory to another machine.
If all you want to do is run desktop applications then you are probably
better off sticking with a native WinXP environment. I use Linux because
it's an at least an order of magnitude more productive for me then
Windows. I can run on multiple machines simultaneously both on my local
LAN and, through secure shell, across the internet, you can't do that with
Windows. My workstation is an old 500MHz PIII, my compute servers are a
dual 2.66 Xeon and dual 1G PIII, and I use an old 450MHz PII as my CVS
server. If I were running XP I wouldn't be able to divide the load that
way and I wouldn't be able to use a 500MHz machine as my main workstation.
Also I'd be forced to use a GUI for most things which is horribly
ineffecient compared to csh scripts. The stability and lack of viruses is
just cream on top of the cake. I also like Galeon much better than any
browser that's available for Windows (although now that Firefox is out the
gap has been narrowed) and Evolution is at least as good as any e-mail
program that's available for Windows. Gnumeric meets my spreadsheet needs
every bit as well as Excel. However Open Office sucks compared to Word and
FrameMaker, the Linux PDF writer isn't in the same league with Acrobat,
and the Linux financial applications can't compete with Quicken and
Quickbooks. So for things I use Win4Lin.
For power users Linux has huge advantages because of it's network
computing capability, it's expandability and it's configurability but it's
not a complete solution because of it's weakness in Word processing and
Financial Application space. Win4Lin fills that gap. However if you don't
need Linux's power then it would be silly to use Linux + Win4Lin, you
should just stick with XP.