The word ‘dual boot’ may be a dirty word to some but it remains a practical and often necessary scenario that many people find themselves in. Whether for gaming, work or access to Adobe Creative Suite, the situation exists.

In times like these, many users would love to have application consistency across the OSes they run.

Thanks to the flexible nature of open-source applications, many apps you find on Ubuntu can do this, with builds available for Linux, Windows and, increasingly, Mac OS X too.

You likely know about several cross-platform and open-source applications, such as IM client Pidgin & Photoshop analog GIMP.

But there are other apps popular with Ubuntu apps users which fly the multi-platform flag too!

Listed below are a handful of Ubuntu apps that, surprisingly to some, also run on Windows and/or OS X.

This list isn’t definitive or exhaustive; doesn’t cover apps most people will be aware of (e.g., Firefox); and I’m focusing on native apps, not other methods of running Linux apps on Windows (e.g., virtual machines).

Disclaimers out of the way, this post could help sweeten the bitter pill of having to pick the ‘Windows’ boot loader in your GRUB boot menu next time you need to use, do or play something!

Emesene

If you use Windows Live Messenger (almost exclusively, as I do) chances are that you use Emesene in Ubuntu. It’s a fantastic application on Ubuntu — but did you know it’s also available for Windows?

Emesene running on Windows

Now I get what you’re thinking: why use Emesene on Windows when the official MSN application is available?

You have a point.

But there are plus points in Emesene’s favour, the the fact it uses less RAM (important on memory-constrained Netbooks):

  • Emesene: 19mb
  • Windows Live Messenger: 33mb

Not every feature that works in Emesene on Linux works in Emesene for Windows. Webcam support doesn’t, for example. Yet Emesene fans will be happy to learn that a large selection of Emesne’s plug-ins are available and do work flawlessly.

Better yet, Emesene can be run as a portable application. This makes it ideal for installing to a USB stick to take with you wherever you go, whatever Windows machine you’re using.

Download Emesene for Windows and OS X (link no longer valid)

Midori

Midori is fast becoming one of the most popular browsers with OMG! Ubuntu readers, and it’s easy to see why: it’s fast, simple, uncluttered — and GTK (so it looks GREAT on Ubuntu).

How well do those pros translate to its Windows edition, especially since being GTK there makes it a non-native toolkit?

Midori web browser on Windows (non-default theme pictured)

The first thing you’ll notice about Midori on Windows is that it looks horrible. GTK on Windows do not have to resemble IE4 if they don’t want to, since the toolkit is fully themeable. The decision to ship Midori with such a glossy Windows ME style theme is questionable.

Thankfully, you can change the Midori theme with a bit of hacking as demonstrated in the screenshot above.

Speed-wise Midori holds up, but in resource usage there is little to recommend:

  • Midori: 77mb
  • Firefox: 50mb

It does ship with most of the features available in the Linux version including the-ever-popular adblocker, speed-dial and toolbar editor.

Download Midori for Windows (link no longer valid)

Arora

QT web browser Arora also provides a—surprisingly—well integrated and super-fast Windows version. Alas, as with Midori, its resource usage renders it more of a curio rather than a serious contender to other web browsers for Windows.

Download Arora for Windows (link no longer valid)

Clementine music player

Clementine, which casts itself in the image of Amarok 1.4, provides a solid Windows port with every feature in-tact and working.

I applaud the developers for this because not only does it work great, look great and feel great ?” it’s lightweight, too!

  • iTunes: 50mb
  • Clementine: 24mb

The very awesome animated tray icon (a Clementine segment that drains of juice) is preserved in the Windows version too – happy days!

Download Clementine for Windows (link no longer valid)

Shotwell

Shotwell for Windows is ideal for those with very basic photo managing/editing needs. It’s relatively light compared to Picasa.

That said, and as was the case with the browser in this list, Shotwell for Windows is almost pointless given other cross-platform solutions exist (such as Google Picasa) which work better, look better and, well, are better.

Download Shotwell for Windows (link no longer valid)

Pinta

We end this little tour with an app that brings us sort-of full circle: Pinta is a ‘clone’ of a Windows application for Linux…. but is also available on Windows.

Unless you’re dying to use open source applications wherever possible (we’re not zealots here in the OMG! towers) using non-open source is acceptable if it does what you need it do. Alas, Pinta is too young to recommend over the proper Paint.Net itself.

Download Pinta for Windows (link no longer valid)

These are only a handful of Linux applications with native Windows builds. What ones do you use? Speak up in the comments and let us know!