Productivity Applications Written for Microsoft Windows

Microsoft Windows is fundamentally different from Linux yet you can install and run some Microsoft Windows applications in Linux by using an application named Wine. Wine enables you to use Microsoft Windows and DOS programs on Unix-based systems. Wine includes a program loader that you can use to execute a Windows binary, along with a .dll library that implements Windows command calls, translating them to the equivalent Unix and X11 command calls. Because of frequent updates to the Wine code base, Wine is not included with Fedora Core. Download a current version of Wine from http://www.winehq.org/.

To see if your favorite application is supported by Wine, you can look at the Wine application database at http://appdb.winehq.org/appbrowse.php.

As well, there are other solutions to enable use of Microsoft productivity applications, primarily Codeweaver's CrossoverOffice. If you are after a painless way of running not only Microsoft Office, but also Apple iTunes and other software, you should really pay Codeweaver's a visit. Crossover Office is one of the simplest programs you can use to get Windows-based programs to work. Check out www.codeweavers.com to download a trial version of the latest software. It requires registration, but don't worry the guys at Codeweaver's are great and will not misuse your details. The big plus is that you get a whole month to play around with the trial before you decide whether to buy it. Of course, you might get to the end of the 30 days and realize that Linux does what you want it to do and you don't want to go back to Windows. Do not be afraid; take the plunge!

Relevant Fedora Commands

The following commands give you access to productivity applications, tools, and processes in Fedora:

fax A script that acts as a front end to the Efax application

gimp Agraphical image editor for X

koshell KDE's KOffice office suite shell

kspread KDE's KSpread spreadsheet

oowriter The word processor in OpenOffice.org

gnumeric A spreadsheet editor for GNOME

planner A project management client for GNOME

abiword A graphical word processor for GNOME

pilot-xfer A comprehensive command-line tool for PalmOS PDA users