CodeWeavers has released CrossOver Office 2.0.0. This new version adds support for Photoshop 7.0 (other versions of Photoshop work as well), Word XP, Excel XP, and PowerPoint XP. Photoshop even has support for tablets under Linux. There is now a trial version of CrossOver Office available for download. DesktopLinux.com previews the upcoming CrossOver Office 2.0 release from CodeWeavers that introduces support for Adobe Photoshop, among other featured enhancements. Embedded Linux support engineer, and former Adobe test engineer, Cal Erickson gives the new release extensive testing.
CodeWeavers Review: Photoshop under Linux
About The Author
Eugenia Loli
Ex-programmer, ex-editor in chief at OSNews.com, now a visual artist/filmmaker.
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i wonder if dreamweaver MX works under crossover too…
I’ve heard (but not tested) that Macromedia’s Flash authoring tool work under Wine, so I imagine Dreamweaver might work too.
I have used websphere demo (html composer) – with a special wine that’s needed and explained by IBM – under Linux.
Maybe you can try it (wine) to run Dreamweaver 5 and Flas 5.
I’ve always been able to run Photoshop under Codeweavers Office with very few problems (some of the menu selections don’t work but are also accessible via the toolbox) so I’m very curious to see what the improvements are. Either no one bothered to fully test Photoshop in earlier implementations, I have a magical distribution (Debian), or CW has very high standards for what is certified.
“or CW has very high standards for what is certified.”
I think that’s the answer. It’s my understanding they won’t list it as a “supported app” unless it really does work well.
See, now THIS is a shining example of something that “just works” under Linux.
A) it has an installer
b) it uses sane, easy to understand versions and release processes with (gasp!) quality control
c) any install issues it encounters it offers to fix for you automatically
d) more things I forgot, but contribute to a solid user experience
Access 2000 under Linux .. excellent
Not that MySQL is a bad thing, but it will be cool to work on .mdb files in Windows and be able to use them on Linux as well. While I wouldn’t personally use Access as a database backend for a webiste, it is perfect for keeping track of my porn collection 😉
No, I won’t mention the name. It pisses some of you people off when it’s mentioned…
According to the Codeweavers page, Dreamweaver MX and Homesite 5 currently do not work. No mention of Flash MX though.
Woo hoo! This is what i’ve been waiting for for years!
Any mirrors to the trial version download? The /. effect caused them to take it down.
It pisses some of you people off when it’s mentioned…
Haha!!! That’s great!
I’ve been a crossover plugin customer for some time now, and I must say that it is one of the best tools on Linux today.
After doing some tinkering, I was able to get both DreamweaverMX and FlashMX working with the previous version of Crossover Office. Check WineHQ for instructions. I thought I had a screenshot somewhere but I’m not finding it… maybe later.
This will definately help linux. Wine may actually get good enough to catch up with Win98 compatibility, while developers still think it’s important. I recently wiped the linux from my PC, part because I’m waiting for Libranet 2.8, part because I realized that the tools I needed to use (for current projects) just were not there on linux (and so, nothing to lose). Linux apps are close, yes. Have they arrived, no. Having Windows apps to bridge the gap (and show a few linux developers how pro apps can look/work), can only help.
Having said that, I’m buying all future “stuff” with linux in mind. I did eventually buy a copy of XP for work, and now I know that it isn’t the future for me. 1 year from now, maybe windows gets booted off.
http://www.codeweavers.com/products/office/supported_applications.p…
None of the macromedia apps work with this version.
dreamweaver mx yousay! http://signal.fearmuffs.net/ss/forkal.png ;D
Unfortunately, trial download is deactivated right now. Does anyone know of any mirrors?
Finally, Photoshop 7 on Linux. That’s wonderful. It means I’ll be able to do my work on a Linux desktop.
The last I read Office XP’s EULA, it forbids installation on any other OS other than Windows. I don’t know about in many states in the US, but if I have the money, I could disqualify that clause under Malaysian contract law. So in other words, Word 2002, PowerPoint 2002, Excel 2002 (notice the 2002 – they aren’t XP, Office XP is Office XP, Word 2002 isn’t Word XP) cannot be run on Linux legally – unless you couldn’t care less of the law, of you have enough money to make that clause illegal.
Besides, Photoshop 7.0 down, Illustrator 10? (Very nice tool to make SVG icons :-). PageMaker/InDesign? FlashMX? AND especially Dreamweaver MX.
Besides, personally while at this minute I’m downloading Mandrake 9.1, I’m not all that interested in running Windows apps on Linux. Why? They probably be less stable for one, slower due to my (recent) experience with Wine, and personally I already have Windows, why switch OS to run Windows apps with not benefits?
I would sure love to run *native* Photoshop on Linux, but via a compatiblity layer? No thanks.
Whats the point of this tool, if you people want the run windows apps on linux, why not just run them natively under windows???
Btw does codeweavers tool support the major cad/cam/fea/ programs???
>Whats the point of this tool, if you people want the run >windows apps on linux, why not just run them natively under >windows???
Well, I dont want to run Windows but I want to run Photoshop.
I dont have a Mac.. This seems like a good option to me.
But it would be better with a native version.
Something tells me that this wont take too long now.
Darius, have you had a look at http://mdbtools.sourceforge.net/ ? It seems to be in a fairly basic state at the moment but means you don’t have to run Access at all. (So no license fees). On a related note, the latest version of Microsoft License forbids you from running their apps on Linux (actually on any non Windows platform) so you can’t legally run, say, the new version of office on Linux even if you technically can.
“On a related note, the latest version of Microsoft License forbids you from running their apps on Linux (actually on any non Windows platform) so you can’t legally run, say, the new version of office on Linux even if you technically can.”
Have these license terms ever been tested in court? I doubt if they would stand up outside the USA.
…runs Macromedia Flash and Macromedia Flash MX “out of box”… the only thing which is ugly are fonts, but that could be solved with a little bit of “fine tuning”…
i forgot to mention it works when run from mounted windows partition… didn’t check if installers work..
Because some of us don’t have Windows? Most of the time, I don’t even have Windows installed, and when I do, it’s only for a short while. For example, yesterday, I installed Windows so I could run Solid Edge (3D CAD). The minute my class is over in two weeks, Windows gets the boot to make more room for my MP3s. For a lot of Linux users, being able to run the occasional Windows program via WINE makes it pretty much unecessary to even dual boot.
Between Win4Lin and Wine in it’s various forms, I have absolutely no need for a native Windows installation. I tried to make Windows XP work for me. I attempted to use all of the applications that I normally use in Linux, including GAIM, Pan, Mozilla, GIMP, etc.. It would work ok for a while, then I started having issues with things like cut and paste not working ANYWHERE until rebooting, and games ending midstream with out of resource messages (huh, I have 512MB of Ram, a 1.6GHz CPU, and 14GB of free drive space!). Then there’s that stop error shutting down, and another one coming out of hibernation. Once I made it past those my scroll wheel decided it didn’t want to scroll in my GTK applications anymore. When all was said and done (across 2 XP reloads one by myself, the other by the manufacturer) I discovered that XP was still not ready for my desktop. Upon switching back to RedHat (and up to 9) I found that though a vendor supported driver was not yet available the VESA driver would have to suffice. I then noticed just 3 days later that ATI had checked a new driver into XFree’s CVS. With a few simple CVS and make commands (following the instructions on the XFREE website) I had the new driver loaded. All of my applications perform flawlessly. Crossover plugin works GREAT, allowinf Quicktime and WindowsMedia to be played on my computer. Using Wine, I have Starcraft, Warcraft, and several other games. Using Win4Lin I have access to any Windows 98 compatable applications that I could want. When it crashes? “xkill” fixes that. Will I go back to XP? Who knows, maybe I’ll try it again in a year or two when I pay the Microsoft tax again.
Have these license terms ever been tested in court? I doubt if they would stand up outside the USA.
Yes, and a recent news on running Visual Fox Pro via WINE on Linux touches the same issue. It’s one way not supporting a program not running on Microsoft OS, another to forbid it to run on another platform. It may touch on the issue of violation of anti-trust settlement. Currently, Microsoft can no longer force OEM bundling only MS product to the Windows OS… Does Microsoft have rights to force its own products to run only under its OS, legally?
What is said in EULA is one thing, can the EULA pass anti-trust scrutiny is another. Practically, in the future if WINE can run some Win98 apps where WinXP or Longhorn can’t, in a technical sense I think which to choose from – forcing upgrades vs maintaining compatibility from another product – isn’t all an obvious better choice for many software users out there.
Well according to this article Photoshop runs OK. But what about Photoshop plugins?? I suppose the ones which are just files to drop in the plugin dir would work. But the ones with an installer on it’s own, like KPT etc, will they work?
The linux community makes me laugh. First CrossOver was suppoose to help bridge people while native linux software was being developed (e.g. OpenOffice). Now, people just want keep running the Microsoft applications.
What sense does it make to run Microsoft Word, Excel, Powerpoint etc… Photoshop when you can run it natively on Windows.
What advanced do you get to running this on a linux distrubution over Windows if everything you run is CrossOver ported apps.
Don Cox: Have these license terms ever been tested in court? I doubt if they would stand up outside the USA.
I doubt they would stand up in many states in the first place. But like I said, testing it in court can be really expensive in the first place.
Rayiner Hashem: Because some of us don’t have Windows?
Considering that accroading to Cross Weavers, their target market is those migrating, I don’t see they getting much luck there. As for the “some”, how many are actually interested in running really expensive software? Especially you, the great advocate of open source software?
Rayiner Hashem: The minute my class is over in two weeks, Windows gets the boot
And everything you learnt goes to waste due to lack of practice? 🙂
Aitvo: I attempted to use all of the applications that I normally use in Linux, including GAIM, Pan, Mozilla, GIMP, etc..
The big question is that with the exeption of mozilla, why do you use GAIM, Pan and especially *GIMP* on *Windows*? If you are wanting to run Linux apps on Windows, you may as well use Linux. For GAIM, there is Trillian (which IMHO much more better). For Pan, there are hundreds of Windows altenatives, but it depends on what kind you like. And Gimp, do I need to say more?
Aitvo: games ending midstream with out of resource messages (huh, I have 512MB of Ram, a 1.6GHz CPU, and 14GB of free drive space
My brothers and I play games for hours at the least, and no games ending midstream – and that computer have a 800mhz CPU, 192MB of RAM and 5GB (actually then, I think it was 3GB) of free space.
Aitvo: Then there’s that stop error shutting down, and another one coming out of hibernation.
Except for once a week where I run Windows Update, I normally keep them all under hibernation mode. It shuts the computer down, but the boot process is faster and you are right where you left it. Besides, you can turn off hibernation (which by the way isn’t available on any Linux distribution I know).
Go to Control Panel > Performance and Maintainence > Power Options > Set “System hibernate” to “Never” for both Plugged In and Running On Batteries.
Aitvo: Once I made it past those my scroll wheel decided it didn’t want to scroll in my GTK applications anymore.
Hardly suprising. The only GTK application on Windows that behave rather suprisingly well is XChat. Face it – GTK on Windows is completely buggy, unstable, not feature compete – why? GTK+ wasn’t designed to be portable.
Aitvo: When it crashes? “xkill” fixes that.
What happens when it crashes when it is minimized? Hehe. Anyway on Windows XP, there is not one time that I couldn’t close an application via Ctrl-Alt-Del. On Windows 2000 there was once, however that was pre-SP2.
Aitvo: It may touch on the issue of violation of anti-trust settlement.
While you may sue Microsoft under antitrust violations for Visual Fox and Office XP – which would take the least 4 years to get through the courts, the current antitrust settlement only covers the distribution and the content of Windows.
Aitvo: Currently, Microsoft can no longer force OEM bundling only MS product to the Windows OS…
Huh? Actually, they can’t force a OEM not to bundle Windows and another OS of their choice. In other words, now if HP wants to bundle Linux with every of their machines, along with Windows, they can.
They also can’t force OEMs to use Microsoft middleware by default and not install any of Microsoft’s middleware competitor’s software (e.g. Netscape). However, VisualFox Pro and Office XP, amongst others, aren’t Windows middleware (at least they don’t serve the settlement’s defination of middleware).
Aitvo: What is said in EULA is one thing, can the EULA pass anti-trust scrutiny is another.
Certain clauses can be proven illegal without antitrust laws. In Malaysia, there is no antitrust laws. But if someone have enough guts and money, they can sue the clause off the EULA if they want. But would anyone?
Zero: Practically, in the future if WINE can run some Win98 apps where WinXP or Longhorn can’t
Windows XP runs Windows 98 almost perfectly, far better than WINE would ever in the near future. And I’m sure Longhorn would continue the tradition.
>The big question is that with the exeption of mozilla, why do you use GAIM, Pan and especially *GIMP*
>on *Windows*? If you are wanting to run Linux apps on Windows, you may as well use Linux. For GAIM,
>there is Trillian (which IMHO much more better). For Pan, there are hundreds of Windows altenatives,
>but it depends on what kind you like. And Gimp, do I need to say more?
Trillian’s licensing does not allow use in a corporate environment without purchasing the PRO edition. I am familiar with GAIM, and it works VERY well. As for Pan, name another newsreader that’s even close at it’s pricepoint. Answer: There are none. GIMP? Are you offering me a Photoshop License, and the necessary training to switch? I thought not. For news, there is one alternative that is even CLOSE to Pan’s functionality. As for GIMP, only Photoshop matches it in shear ability. I’d love to know what your beef with GIMP is, because I’m sure it’s only a problem because you need to understand the software better. The *ONLY* issue currently is CMYK support, but unless you are printing who cares? Why should I pay for replacement applications?
“My brothers and I play games for hours at the least, and no games ending midstream – and that computer have a 800mhz CPU, 192MB of RAM and 5GB (actually then, I think it was 3GB) of free space.”
I’m glad your experience was better than mine, it does not however discount the experience I had with XP. There are several issues, one big one that comes to mind is playing a directx game, then attempting to launch another one. The application minimizes, and requires task manager to kill it. It persists until I reboot. This was with DirectX 9 and SP1 with all the latest patches.
“Except for once a week where I run Windows Update, I normally keep them all under hibernation mode. It shuts the computer down, but the boot process is faster and you are right where you left it. Besides, you can turn off hibernation (which by the way isn’t available on any Linux distribution I know).”
Hmm, with a simple patch/compile it is. When your main computer is a notebook, you don’t always hibernate. I am familiar with how the hibernation process works, don’t patronize me.
“Go to Control Panel > Performance and Maintainence > Power Options > Set “System hibernate” to “Never” for both Plugged In and Running On Batteries.”
I thought you just praised it, why then turn it off?
“Hardly suprising. The only GTK application on Windows that behave rather suprisingly well is XChat. Face it – GTK on Windows is completely buggy, unstable, not feature compete – why? GTK+ wasn’t designed to be portable.”
Riight, but it’s ok to bash Linux for having the same issues huh? My point is that Windows and Linux are both on equal levels. I think that GTK applications work very well on Windows all things considered. Just as I think Windows applications work very well on Linux all things considered.
“What happens when it crashes when it is minimized? Hehe. Anyway on Windows XP, there is not one time that I couldn’t close an application via Ctrl-Alt-Del. On Windows 2000 there was once, however that was pre-SP2.”
Then I open my process manager, and kill them that way. On Linux there has NEVER been a time that I couldn’t close an application with “kill”.
The rest of your replies are aimed at me, but I do not recall making the statements you are replying to. Your vehement defense of Windows XP is perplexing the very notion that it can do no wrong is truly vexing!
I am familiar with GAIM
And you complain on other threads that Windows users aren’t willing new things and wanting to stick with familar software.
and it works VERY well.
Not on Windows it doesn’t. Besides Trillian there is also MyJabber which works rather nicely. And free.
As for Pan, name another newsreader that’s even close at it’s pricepoint.
I don’t know. It really depends on what features you use with Pan. Besides, I’m not all that familar with news readers, and lately if I wanted to explore usenet, I would use Mozilla instead (although it lacks a lot of important features)
Are you offering me a Photoshop License, and the necessary training to switch?
Photoshop isn’t the only player on Windows. (Besides, while Photoshop Elements is rather cheap, Roxio PhotoSuite, Jasc Paint Shop Pro, etc. comes to mind).
As for training, if you aren’t willing to use Windows with Windows apps and expecting it to work like Linux – stick to Linux. Besides, I was introduced to the world of digital image editing by GIMP, and until recently I know GIMP best. It took me barely hours to learn Photoshop and barely days to get used to it.
For news, there is one alternative that is even CLOSE to Pan’s functionality.
Which is?
As for GIMP, only Photoshop matches it in shear ability.
Actually, for me, Photoshop exceeds it overwhelmingly (as oppose to “matching” it).
I’d love to know what your beef with GIMP is, because I’m sure it’s only a problem because you need to understand the software better.
LOL, I think I understand GIMP, Script-fu and the likes better than Photoshop. Personally, my biggest beef with GIMP is with the poorly designed UI. Very cluttered, IMHO. And it lacks one of my most used features, “Styles” (where you can add stuff like bevels, shadows, etc to layers with much greater ease. Another big problem with it is with the lack of web optimization – I’m much better off creating web graphics, especially those in GIF, than on GIMP.
The *ONLY* issue currently is CMYK support
If only that’s the only issue….
There are several issues, one big one that comes to mind is playing a directx game, then attempting to launch another one. The application minimizes, and requires task manager to kill it. It persists until I reboot. This was with DirectX 9 and SP1 with all the latest patches.
I just tried replicating that with loading Max Payne, minimizing it and loading The Sims. No such problem. DirectX 9 with SP1 too. (of course, it took a long time to respond, hardly surprising noticing my system’s specs).
Hmm, with a simple patch/compile it is. When your main computer is a notebook, you don’t always hibernate. I am familiar with how the hibernation process works, don’t patronize me.
I never said it doesn’t work. Besides, my main computer isn’t a laptop, it is a desktop. I prefer to hibernate because it is faster, and haven’t had a problem so far on XP. Meanwhile, my point was that the hibernation process is optional, if it doesn’t work for you, turn it off.
I thought you just praised it, why then turn it off?
Because apparently it doesn’t work for you. I was showing you how to turn it off (for desktops BTW, it is turned off by default.. at least for me).
Riight, but it’s ok to bash Linux for having the same issues huh?
I never bashed Linux on those issues. Why? I was talking about the GTK+ port to Windows. The only thing I could think off is Wine (which wants to be binary compatible with a API not designed to be portable) – I critize that too.
I think that GTK applications work very well on Windows all things considered.
That is rather contradictory with your previous post where you claim that GTK+ apps can’t use the clipboard properly on your machine after awhile (a problem I still can’t replicate)
Just as I think Windows applications work very well on Linux all things considered.
Not with my experience. Some features don’t work, and normally they are slower than on Windows (especially games on WineX).
The rest of your replies are aimed at me, but I do not recall making the statements you are replying to.
I accidently swithed Zero for Aitvo.
“And you complain on other threads that Windows users aren’t willing new things and wanting to stick with familar software.”
When have I said that?
“and it works VERY well.”
“Not on Windows it doesn’t. Besides Trillian there is also MyJabber which works rather nicely. And free.”
You need to get your facts in order. GAIM works VERY well on the Windows platform. I have yet to hear of any serious issues with it.
“I don’t know. It really depends on what features you use with Pan. Besides, I’m not all that familar with news readers, and lately if I wanted to explore usenet, I would use Mozilla instead (although it lacks a lot of important features)”
Mozilla’s newsreader is missing 100% of the features I use.
“Photoshop isn’t the only player on Windows. (Besides, while Photoshop Elements is rather cheap, Roxio PhotoSuite, Jasc Paint Shop Pro, etc. comes to mind).”
Only Photoshop compares to GNOME.
“As for training, if you aren’t willing to use Windows with Windows apps and expecting it to work like Linux – stick to Linux.”
No kidding, I think that’s my point. If Windows works, use it. If Linux works, use it. All I hear day after day is “There’s no software for Linux”, or “There’s no Microsoft Office on Linux so it sucks” The same can be said in the opposite direction.
“For news, there is one alternative that is even CLOSE to Pan’s functionality.
Which is?”
Newsrover
“Actually, for me, Photoshop exceeds it overwhelmingly (as oppose to “matching” it).”
That’s GREAT for YOU, however GIMP is FINE FOR ME.
“I just tried replicating that with loading Max Payne, minimizing it and loading The Sims. No such problem. DirectX 9 with SP1 too. (of course, it took a long time to respond, hardly surprising noticing my system’s specs).”
I’m glad it’s not a problem, it is for notebook users with certain ATI cards. (IGP 340M being one of them.) You didn’t recreate the problem though, as I had closed the first game before opening the second. I didn’t open several games and see what broke like you did, I was really just using my computer as anyone else would.
“I never said it doesn’t work. Besides, my main computer isn’t a laptop, it is a desktop. I prefer to hibernate because it is faster, and haven’t had a problem so far on XP. Meanwhile, my point was that the hibernation process is optional, if it doesn’t work for you, turn it off.”
Riight, if it’s broke turn it off. Is that what you would claim if it was something broken in the Linux kernel? No.
“Because apparently it doesn’t work for you. I was showing you how to turn it off (for desktops BTW, it is turned off by default.. at least for me).”
You were attempting to belittle me, however you failed.
“That is rather contradictory with your previous post where you claim that GTK+ apps can’t use the clipboard properly on your machine after awhile (a problem I still can’t replicate)”
No, NO apps can use the clipboard all the way down to simple applications like notepad.
“Not with my experience. Some features don’t work, and normally they are slower than on Windows (especially games on WineX).”
Hmm, I’ll agree with WineX however applications like Quicktime are not noticably slower.
The only reason I run a windows box is to do my photo work. This includes Photoshop, Qimage and BreezeBrowser/CaptureOne. I am just in the process of setting these things up and I really hate to have to set up a windows box just for that. If there is a way to do this under Linux I would jump at the opportunity. Photoshop by itself doesn’t do me any good unless the rest of the workflow is covered as well.
The biggest problem with gimp and other native Linux apps is that they are nowhere near as advanced as the WIndows variety. Gimp for example can not handle a 16 bit TIFF file. I am not aware of anything supporting the Canon (or any other) RAW format and decoding. I do not believe that there is anything like Qimage for printing out there in the Linux world although I have not used gimpprint in a while.
I would love it if someone could proove me wrong.