[Darth-Apple]

Obviously, one of the biggest disadvantages to using Linux as opposed to Windows is the fact that Windows programs won't run. Thankfully, a diligent group of developers have developed WINE, a program that makes Linux compatible with some windows programs. (It doesn't work that well, but some programs will run great. )

WINE is free, but if you are willing to pay, there is also a product by codeweavers called crossover linux. I have never tried it myself, but from what I hear, it works significantly better than WINE.

[Gmdykfuiygh66476]

I like Wine, but I don't know if its just my distribution, DE, or what, but a lot of programs are really buggy under Wine. Maybe a later version/upgrade may fix such problems.

As for crossover linux, I'm not gonna pay for it. Especially if there's a working (albeit a bit buggy) alternative for free.

[Darth-Apple]

I actually find that the later versions of WINE seem to have more bugs. It's a pretty old project, but hopefully they can work on it and make it more stable over the next few years. I think it still has huge potential, for sure.

[Acko]

Though this is kind of necro'ing, I heard this nasty rumor that WINE doesn't support Pixel Shader 2.0 and above. And that I should use this for gaming. Thoughts?

[SpookyZalost]

@ Acko: as of 2018 wine works great, just install the latest direct X in it first lol.

edit: 10/23/19

going to say this now, Proton which is wine based runs windows games excellently with insanely high compatibility rates, I'd say it's super successful

[Thomas]

It's crazy how much Proton has advanced over the years. With Proton you can run just about any windows game.

[SpookyZalost]

Indeed, there's very little reason to run windows these days...

looking at you cyberpunk2077 -_-