Wine-Based CrossOver Software To Be Free Tomorrow

[Kano]

You can see which wine version is used currently. Today:

strings /opt/cxoffice/lib/libwine.so.1|grep wine-1
wine-1.4.1-6935-g558cbc3

[disi]

One not so nice thing on their site is
http://www.codeweavers.com/products/faq/differences/
under Choosing the right Wine-based solution

• Comes with one-click installation for Windows applications -> hmm OK from their website, this is nice but I still need to download the application
• Comes with a graphical installer for Windows applications -> not sure what that means, wine setup.exe gives the installer the guy, who packaged the game, had in mind
• Comes with Bottles (portable virtual Windows environments)? -> prefix? I guess it is the same
• Seamlessly integrates with your desktop environment -> so does wine? At least I got a shortcut to regedit, mines, solitaer and pyltro in Gnome3 (I think ~/.local/share/) or they mean like fullscreen etc. this would be helpful
• Is consistently tested against a supported application set -> OK, what I saw in the forums, they respond very quickly *thumbs up
• Comes with product support -> ?!? updates?
• Price -> well, once wine is running it usually works fine. But if you run a constantly updating game, this might be helpful?

Pricing?

So with the free version, you save the 51 Euro initial price and after 12 months you can extend for another 12 months for €25.50?

//edit: per user licence model (not per machine)

What I don't understand, on their website they say you can use and download a copy of the software up to the version when your subscription terminated. Forever!
In the EULA under point 4:
Upon termination you must destroy the Software, related documentation and all copies thereof.
This includes 30 days trial version, misuse, refund, not paying up.

Hmm, wondering what is with the flock version

[grantek]

What I don't understand, on their website they say you can use and download a copy of the software up to the version when your subscription terminated. Forever!
In the EULA under point 4:
Upon termination you must destroy the Software, related documentation and all copies thereof.
This includes 30 days trial version, misuse, refund, not paying up.

Not purchasing support for further updates shouldn't constitute termination of the EULA. If you purchase a support agreement or acquire one through a promotion, my understanding is you can use this year's version of Crossover in the year 3000 under the terms of this year's EULA even if you don't have a support agreement at the time. That's assuming EULAs are enforceable etc. etc.

[crispy]

Sooo .. You also use just free open source in Wine?

Hah! way to spot double standards

[RemcoL]

Since crossover is based on wine, and some crossover devs work on wine, "maybe" they are deliberately hiding the bugs in wine so you pay for the whole thing. I can't believe no one has ever thought this before...

That's hard to do when you are required to post the source for the wine version used. You can check that out on http://www.codeweavers.com/products/faq/source/ . Getting the patches out of there is left up to you.

[RealNC]

Crossover is a ripoff. I have commercial software lying around that's 20 years old. If I wanted, I can still install it and it works. It does not "expire". Demos used to expire. Time-limited shareware used to expire. But once you paid for it, its yours to use. Forever.

Once I buy something, I expect it to work forever. I would need to be a total idiot to even consider buying something that essentially tells me that I didn't buy it but just leased it.

No, thanks.

[RemcoL]

Crossover is a ripoff. I have commercial software lying around that's 20 years old. If I wanted, I can still install it and it works. It does not "expire". Demos used to expire. Time-limited shareware used to expire. But once you paid for it, its yours to use. Forever.

Once I buy something, I expect it to work forever. I would need to be a total idiot to even consider buying something that essentially tells me that I didn't buy it but just leased it.

No, thanks.

From http://www.codeweavers.com/products/faq/truth/

Depending on the service level you purchase, you will get 1, 6, or 12 months of support. During your support period, you will be able to download all versions released and you will be able to obtain technical support. Upon the expiration of that time period, all customers will still be able to download the most current version of the software that they received while under the support agreement, forever (or at least as long as we can practically make that possible). See our Upgrade Policy for more details and instructions on how to upgrade.

So you can use what you bought, and everything released during the support period forever. No limitation. In this specific giveaway case, you need to click a link in an email message you will receive after the servers have cooled down to get free upgrades during the 12 month support period you got for free. But even if you don't do that, the version you downloaded will just keep working.

[RealNC]

I misunderstood their business model then. My apologies.

[Michael504]

they're giving free software (wine with name changed) away for free. Oh my god I'm going to rush over and download a dozen free copies of this free software that is being given away for free. Wow.

[crazycheese]

Forcing the community to reinvent what?

Stuff like PlayOnLinux, Qt4WINE, Vinegrade...
All this is unnecessary.

You either get base version, or pay for full working version. Thats crappy opencore.

The right method is get priority and direct support for those who pay and get "as-is" for non-paying. Thats opensource.

Did wine have something like Crossover and Codeweavers yanked it?! It was and still is a PITA to deploy on its own. If they make it easier to use and work on improving wine they should get paid for that.

Yes,of course, they should.

But they are attracting people to use closed source stuff, by damping prices. So, there is a userbase fight between wine and x-over. This could be spared.

Crippling the code-base?! How exactly do they cripple it by not putting in it some hacks that solve problems for a small amount of cases (the amount of software that is officially supported is quite small) but that could potentially damage the way a lot of other programs work?

The phrase you already said is pure opencore. Its similar to offering base version of m$ window$ for 0$ and offer "better working", yet proprietary = "upgrade" for "those who need that". Thing is disgusting.

Finally, the point of the campaign is two-fold. One, it's a way to make a splash and potentially make more people aware that Crossover exists. Second is about civic duty. They might get some people off their arses and interested in politics, like they should be. Not just interested in who to vote for but also to get them to pay attention to what the people they vote for actually do instead of watching garbage on TV all day and getting fat.

First, people are aware of crossover. Anyone who once went onto winedb saw "sponsored by x-over" even once.
Second, they cause a userbase fight by attacking own tail.
Third, the US puppetshow has only some interest within America. Thats not mean offensive, its just truth that those two are like Medvedev and Putin in Russia. Watchin TV and getting fat are necessary for the corporations customer base. Government sees that OK. Its same, even in Russia.

I personally, hardly think this "campaign" has any sense. Collect money to "unsuck" AMD open driver in WINE,.. or any technology in WINE,.. that would make more sense.