Packaging Windows apps for Linux Was: Picasa for Linux

[Scott Ritchie]

This has actually been a side-project idea of mine for a long while, and
it seems like it will be perfect for Edgy.

A far more elegant solution is to package Windows apps and have them
depend on a stable Wine version released in the supported section of
Ubuntu.  With a stable release of Wine included in Edgy, ISV's like
Google will be able to provide packages without having to include/test
their own build of Wine.  Additionally, should we find some good open
source software that's better than the Linux equivalents (my favorite
example is eMule), we can package it up ourselves.

Please have a look at the following spec idea.  I really do think it
would be a defining point for Edgy.

https://wiki.ubuntu.com/BetterIntegratedWineSpec

Thanks,
Scott Ritchie

On Tue, 2006-05-30 at 00:35 -0400, Dana Olson wrote:
> While we're discussing the issue of putting closed-source Windows
> binaries with a dozen MB of Wine binaries each into Ubuntu's Multiverse,
> I'd like to suggest a few additions that should be considered if Picasa
> is approved and accepted.
> 
> - DVD Shrink. The native Linux app K9Copy doesn't work quite right, and
> I'm not aware of anything else that actually does what DVD Shrink can
> do.
> 
> - uTorrent. A much better BitTorrent client than the one included by
> default with Ubuntu.
> 
> - Winamp. None of the native Linux software can acceptably play Nullsoft
> NSV files without having the audio severely lagged in comparison to
> running Winamp in Wine.
> 
> - Buzz. It's a cool music-making software, with a native clone in the
> works, but it's not anywhere nearly as advanced yet.
> 
> - AdAware Personal. It removes spyware and tracking cookies, which might
> not be a big concern, but we do have anti-virus software too, and
> viruses aren't any bigger a threat at this time than spyware is. Best be
> prepared.
> 
> - Trillian Basic. Gaim works, but it isn't exactly skinnable. Plus,
> Gaim's MSN file transfer is quite slow at the moment.
> 
> There are probably more that should be on this list, but it's been a
> while since I ran Windows.
> 
> Dana