| The three popular Windows-compatibility solutions for Linux users can be summarized, in brief, as follows: CrossOver Office provides the best user experience, Linux integration, and speed, but for a limited set of applicationsInternet Explorer, Microsoft Office, Adobe Photoshop, and Lotus Notes being the most important. VMware Workstation is more difficult to install, requires more system resources (disk space, memory, and processor time), but also provides additional flexibility: It can be used to run applications from a number of different operating systems on your Linux desktop, and it can also be used to create several independent, virtual, networkable PCs from a single computer system. Netraverse Win4Lin represents a kind of compromise between these two; it is nearly as fast as CrossOver Office but doesn't suffer from CrossOver Office's limited set of applications. On the other hand, Win4Lin still requires that you install a complete Windows operating system and use all your Windows programs from within a single application window, as does VMware, on both counts.
The remainder of this appendix discusses these three Windows compatibility solutions for Linux in more detail. The retail versions of all three of these software packages include documentation and RPM installers compatible with Fedora Core 4's software installation tools (which you learn about in Chapter 31, "Installing Linux Software").  | This Software is Not Part of Fedora CoreAll the software products discussed in this chapter are third-party products. This means that they are not included on your Fedora Core 4 DVD, nor are they supported by the Fedora Project or Red Hat, Inc. Instead, you must purchase the software in question from one of the following vendors: CodeWeavers http://www.codeweavers.com VMware http://www.vmware.com Netraverse http://www.netraverse.com
Every software product discussed in this chapter is available in RPM format. This means that after purchasing them and reading the included documentation for each product, you can install them using the techniques you learn in Chapter 31. In-depth details on starting and using each software product are provided by the vendor; this appendix is intended only as an overview. |
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