Running Windows Without Windows

Usually when you need to run a Windows application on a Mac, you install VMware or Parallels. Recently I learned of a third choice: a program called CrossOver Mac by CodeWeavers. It’s cheaper than VMware and Parallels, and it doesn’t require a full licensed copy of Windows.

Once installed, CrossOver Mac will monitor your DVD drive for any Windows installer and automatically bring up a “helper” application that identifies the disc. CrossOver will install the program into a “bottle,” keeping it separate from other bottles that you have already installed. It recognizes most popular applications such as the Microsoft Office suite and Intuit’s Quicken and QuickBooks. The CrossOver website has an extensive compatibility database and claims support for over 8,000 applications.

If you’re looking to play games on your Mac, they have a version specifically for that as well. CrossOver Games offers support for online MMORPGs like World of Warcraft and Guild Wars, as well as Steam games like Half Life 2 and Team Fortress 2. This version is tweaked for better framerates demanded by fast-paced games, so it will work better than the standard CrossOver Mac software, which has been designed for stability and productivity.

CrossOver is a graphical front-end for Wine, an open source project with the goal of letting people run Windows applications on other operating systems. Unlike a Virtual Machine, such as Parallels or VMware, Wine does not emulate processor instruction sets but rather runs the Windows instruction set natively.

What’s the difference? An emulator has to take instructions written for one system and translate them into instructions another system can understand. This takes time, and depending on the application you’re running, it can be noticeable to the point where it may even appear that the application has crashed.

Running an entire operating system like Windows XP under another operating system like OS X is no small feat, which is why you need a fast processor and a lot of memory to do it. Running an application natively, however, means that the application is using an instruction set that is already understood by the OS, so nothing needs to be translated to make it work.

This allows your application to run faster and does not require the same system requirements as running under an emulator. It also runs the Windows APIs within the Mac OS, which means your Windows applications start up almost immediately. There is no wait while the virtual machine starts, loads Windows, then loads your application.

CrossOver Mac is $39.95, CrossOver Games is $39.95, or CrossOver Professional (includes licenses for both) is $69.95. A 30 day demo is available here.