Soon you will be able to run Windows apps on your Android smartphones or tablets through Wine, the popular open-source app.
Wine, the popular open-source application that allows users to run Windows apps and software on Linux, is being ported to Google’s Android platform.
Wine a.k.a WINdows Emulator a.k.a Wine Is Not an Emulator, also ported to OS X, FreeBSD and Solaris, comes with software library Winelib, against which developers can compile Windows apps to help port them to Unix-like systems.
According to reports, Alexandre Julliard, the original developer behind Wine project, is working to port the app to Google’s platform. Julliard has also briefly revealed Wine for Android. Phoronix in its report says the performance was “horrendously slow”, but noted, it was because Wine was running on an “emulated Android environment” rather than on an actual device.
“Julliard uses an Apple MacBook for development of his software that runs on Linux to run Windows software… Android was emulated for his demo,” says Phoronix in its report.
“A Windows application running on Android. While Wine is coming to ARM and there’s quite a lot of interest there, CodeWeavers is quite interested and hopeful for the success of Intel x86 Atom CPUs for tablets. If Android gains traction on x86-based tablets and other mobile devices, CodeWeavers has a lot of commercial opportunities for pushing the running of Windows software on Android.”
Wine on Android demo
Wine for Android may take quite some time before releasing. However, it’ll definitely please Linux and Unix users that an Android version is already in the works. A lot of users have been waiting long for Wine’s arrival on Android ARM and x86 platforms. With the success of these projects, users will be able to use Windows software on their ARM and x86 smartphones or tablets.
Read more about the briefly shown off Wine for Android software here.