By Liam Tung | January 22, 2020
Wine, the software that Microsoft has partially credited with making Windows 10 Windows Subsystem for Linux possible, has been updated with over 7,400 changes.
Wine is a compatibility layer, designed for Unix-like OSes, which enables Linux and macOS systems to run Windows applications.
In the era of Windows XP and former Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer, Microsoft used its anti-piracy Windows Genuine Advantage program to block updates to Wine users on Linux systems.
Back then, Microsoft's top echelons refused to publicly recognize the existence of Wine, which meant its developers were even flattered by Microsoft's effort to block Windows and Office updates to Wine users because at least it showed Microsoft had acknowledged their presence.
But in today's tech world of cloud computing, interoperable systems, and receding desktop sales, Microsoft has come out as a supporter of the techniques Wine developers used to make Windows software compatible with Linux machines.
Microsoft last week filed an amicus curiae brief in support of Google's position against Oracle's claim that software application programming interfaces (APIs) can be copyrighted. Google's case in the US Supreme Court is scheduled for March.
Microsoft held up Wine as an example of the importance of open APIs that a victory to Oracle could threaten, which in turn could prevent it in future from creating a feature like WSL – a layer in Windows that lets developers who use Linux command-line tools create applications in Azure.
"In another example from the 1990s, an open-source developer created a program called Wine, which allowed developers to enable Windows applications to run on computers that used the Linux open-source system, without explicit authorization from Microsoft," wrote Microsoft.
"To create Wine, the developer 'use[d] the same hierarchy of function names' of various Windows APIs. Years later, Microsoft created 'the inverse of Wine', reimplementing the structure of certain Linux APIs to create the Windows Subsystem for Linux, a program that allowed Linux programs to run on Windows.
"The Windows-Linux experience shows that reuse of functional code is a two-way street that benefits both the original creator and the follow-on developer – and ultimately the consumer."
The Wine 5.0 update takes advantage of this two-way street, introducing Portable Executable (PE) modules, which are built in the Windows binary PE file format that's used in executables and DLLs.
According to Wine developers, now the "PE binaries are copied into the Wine prefix instead of the fake DLL files", making the prefix look "more like a real Windows installation, at the cost of some extra disk space."
The new release also supports multiple displays and monitors, and there's Vulkan driver support up to version 1.1.126 for Android.
Wine gets big upgrade
Wine gets big upgrade
Wine for running Windows 10 apps on Linux gets big upgrade
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Mike Walsh
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Cheers, Flash. Interesting read.....especially the part about Oracle once again trying to stifle free development - this time, by wanting to 'copyright' APIs.
What a bunch of morons..... It's all about the dosh with these firms, isn't it? What's the current expression in business; 'Expand, or die', summat like that..?
Mike.
What a bunch of morons..... It's all about the dosh with these firms, isn't it? What's the current expression in business; 'Expand, or die', summat like that..?
Mike.
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Moose On The Loose
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perdido
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This lawsuit will probably be decided in favor of oracle if oracle never released their API to the public domain. The fact that google originally tried to license the API acknowledges the fact that google knew they were going to need permission from oracle. That google stole it and used it in a popular product should have no effect on the outcome.
Google steals personal info, passwords, DNA, maps your genome, pays off government representatives and tries to influence elections. Why shouldn't they be able to steal from their competition, after all that is how google conducts business. That microsoft has thrown their hat in with google says more about microsoft and their intentions than whether google is right or wrong.
Google steals personal info, passwords, DNA, maps your genome, pays off government representatives and tries to influence elections. Why shouldn't they be able to steal from their competition, after all that is how google conducts business. That microsoft has thrown their hat in with google says more about microsoft and their intentions than whether google is right or wrong.
I don't doubt the accuracy of your second paragraph. But your first is inaccurate. Oracle may not have a valid copyright. But the litigation when the google sought to use the API, then as now, would involve millions of dollars in litigation costs with an uncertain outcome. Discretion, when possible, is the advice any good attorney would have provided to Google.perdido wrote: The fact that google originally tried to license the API acknowledges the fact that google knew they were going to need permission from oracle. That google stole it and used it in a popular product should have no effect on the outcome.
Google steals personal info, passwords, DNA, maps your genome, pays off government representatives and tries to influence elections. Why shouldn't they be able to steal from their competition, after all that is how google conducts business. That microsoft has thrown their hat in with google says more about microsoft and their intentions than whether google is right or wrong.