What if you could run Windows applications on your Android smartphone or tablet? Well it’s possible now…
Wine, the software that’s allows Microsoft Windows applications to run on Linux, Mac OS, and other platforms, was shown running on an Android environment today at FOSDEM in Brussels. Alexandre Julliard, of Codeweavers and Wine’s original developer, showed the demo of Wine on a Apple Macbook running Linux & the Android emulator. Though Wine ran pretty slowly, as seen on the initial tests but Julliard blames much of this on the fact that Android was emulated on the system.
Crossover Apps
While running Windows programs compiled for ARM processors on Android devices is an interesting idea. But only if Intel can push the X86 processor to Android tablet manufacturers. An Atom CPU powered Android device will allow Codeweavers to push their CrossOver commercial products, like Office, for both consumers and business users. CrossOver already allows you to install many popular Windows applications and PC Games on your Mac which can be extended for Android also.
Emulator for Windows Apps on Android
Much before this, another emulator called Winulator made it possible to run some classic Windows games on Android devices. Android devices currently use ARM-based chips and Intel has also been pushing its low power Atom x86 processors for Android phones and tablets, so Wine for Android could also theoretically run on devices with x86 chips. The project could make it possible to run full desktop apps on a mobile device, although Wine has never been 100 percent compatible with All Windows software. Many apps won’t run at all on a Linux computer with Wine installed, and others will run, but some features may not work properly.
