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Ask HN: Will windows programs now run on Linux and Mac OS?

• jussij 12y ago
  As of today and as has been the case for several year now, many Win32 based Windows softwares/games already run just fine on Linux and OSX thanks to Wine: https://appdb.winehq.org/ https://appdb.winehq.org/
• opless 12y ago
  With the exception of wine. Short answer: No. Longer answer: Probably not. Anything that P/Invokes native code (regardless if it's a system dll, or the apps own dlls) it will just not run. They will crash/throw exceptions when called. Since these apps won't expect themselves to be running on a non-windows operating system the exceptions won't be caught and crash. This will probably include many, many 3rd party controls.
• Piskvorrr 12y ago
  Not really. .net apps have already been running on Mono, with varying success; there are also cross-platform apps built on .net - none of this should change significantly. As for unmanaged apps - this changes nothing. Two things could happen: a) the open-sourced .net will allow for better implementations on other platforms, and/or b) MS will later step in as a patent troll and try to undermine Mono this way, SCO-style. While option B seems unlikely (the open-sourced code seems to be licensed quite freely), MS has played the Embrace-Extend-Exterminate card too many times for me to be entirely trustworthy.