As a student I am quite often confronted with (closed-source) Windows programs. These days there are a few tools that can help running Windows applications on Linux. One of these tools is Win4Lin, Win4Lin allowsone to install Windows 95, 98 and ME under Linux. The Windows NT branch is not supported yet, because Win4Lin sets up a special DOS environmentin which Windows runs.

Conclusion

Win4Lin is a gem as it stands today. It is fast, configurable and a good solution in many situations. Compared to similar offerings it is also very affordable, even for home users. In my opinion there are only two gaps that have to be closed. First of all Windows 2000 and XP support, Windows 2000 is widely deployed in business environments and the TCO rises when Windows 9x/ME licenses have to be bought besides the Windows 2000 licenses. Windows XP is the de-facto operating system for modern home computers, and many home users have a Windows XP license. The second gap is smaller, and largely applies to home users, namely the lack of DirectX support. Running games on Win4Lin might be out of reach in the short term, but DirectX support is badly needed for some multimedia applications. As it stands today I rate Win4Lin 8/10, if they manage to support Windows 2000 for the next version, I can't wait to review it .