A new version of CrossOver is out building out from last month’s release of Wine 9.0.
Created by CodeWeavers, a major contributor to Wine’s ongoing development, CrossOver is a commercial version of Wine with extra “goodies” included that make running Windows games and apps on Linux, Chrome OS and macOS desktops a little bit easier.
CrossOver 24 is the latest release and the first based on Wine 9.0 (itself a huge update with over 7,000 changes). Also included are Wine Mono 8.1.0, vkd3d 1.10, and MoltenVK 1.2.5 to ensure solid performance across the multiple different operating systems supported.
CodeWeavers devs say they spent some time working on UI improvements in CrossOver 24 with the aim of making the software “as user-friendly as possible”.
As such, in CrossOver 24 you can now drag and drop executables on to the main window to run or install them; and portables apps/standalone executables can be run without installing them. Just drag a standalone runtime on to a Bottle and the app will do the rest.
To make launching your portable apps easier in the future CrossOver 24 gains a new ‘create launcher’ dialog. Fill this in to to create a custom app shortcut — just make sure you keep the portable app it references in the same place you specify!
If you tend to keep Windows apps installed on an external drive you can now change the directory where your bottles (specific Wine configs) are stored, just head to the Preferences dialog (via Settings in macOS) to access this new option.
CodeWeavers say that new Office 365 installers now work on Linux (32-bit ones only) and they have resolves crashes when using PowerPoint 2016/365 — which is great news for those who need or want to use that app over free software alternatives like LibreOffice Impress.
Getting CrossOver 24
To learn more about the software you can head over to CrossOver website, which also details what it supports, its differences compared to the version of Wine available to install in most Linux distribution’s repositories, and (more importantly) how to buy it.
Although a license for CrossOver 24 costs around £60/$60 for a year (discounting upgrade pricing thereafter). Use the deal code WineNine to save 24% on the price CrossOver 24 (including renewals) until March 2, 2024.
Want to try before you buy? Download a free 2-week trial of CrossOver to kick the tyres on the tool, make sure works well on you PC, and runs all of the Windows software you need — and if you like what you find, plonk down the cash to use it for a whole year.