WINE for Android is in the works
Anyone who has used Linux in the past knows about WINE, because sometimes the platform just doesn’t have the full suite of apps one requires. If you don’t know, WINE is a compatibility layer that aims to run Windows apps on Linux-based systems in native form. The acronym tends to stand for “Wine is not an emulator,” a mistaken presumption that most users make when trying to describe its function.
The exciting work is being done to bring this over to Android. It’s a marriage made in heaven, we’d say, but things won’t be too perfect out of the starting gate. For starters, things are running quite slowly right now. The team working on the project was able to get a Windows app running, but the experience wasn’t smooth enough to be practical. Still, it’s an exciting feat to get this compatibility layer up and running on ARM architecture when most Windows apps (RT-based devices notwithstanding) are built primarily for x86-based devices.
Unfortunately, it doesn’t sound like this is the WINE team’s top priority — after all, more work is needed to bring its desktop Linux suite up to full capacity even after all these years of development. It’s said the project would get more attention if Intel’s x86 breaks considerable ground in the Android tablet game, though considering the company is having trouble doing that on the phone side of things (it has to compete with an immovable force consisting of the likes of Qualcomm, Samsung, and NVIDIA) we won’t hold our breath.
Would you want to see WINE on Android in imperfect form, or would you rather wait until the project can be done right? Be sure to sound off in the comments section below!
[Phoronix via The Register, thanks Matt!]