CrossOver Mac 6.0
CodeWeavers
Price: $59.95
Pros: Easy to use, great OS X integration, responsive developer, small selection of fully supported applications.
Cons: Multi-disk installation problems, very limited application support.
by Drew Bailey, 1st Lt, USAF
Apple Inc. is becoming more and more popular around the world. With that popularity, many PC users are making the switch to the Mac. Many times these "converts" (including myself) are used to certain Windows applications. There are currently applications such as Boot Camp and Parallels Desktop that allow Windows to run on the Mac either on a separate partition or within OS X. These work well in most cases, however, you must purchase a copy of Windows in order to use them. Many of us don't need (or want) to have a fully functioning copy of Windows on our Mac. CrossOver by Codeweavers is a new utility designed to install and run windows applications from within OS X without Windows!
CrossOver acts as an emulator in order to trick Windows applications to run on the Mac. It uses a feature called "bottles" in order to install programs. These bottles provide everything the software would require of a PC including a "C:/ Drive" for the installation process, as well as a complete windows registry. Crossover is capable of creating multiple bottles. It is like having multiple PCs grouped under one computer (your Mac). Multiple bottles can be useful if you want to run programs under different versions of Windows. Each bottle is in essence its own computer, so one bottle could emulate Windows 98 and another could emulate Windows XP. The installation process will choose the bottle configuration in which the application will run the best.
When you insert a Windows install disk into your Mac, CrossOver automatically detects it and opens any Windows installation utilities included on the disk. Once the installation process begins, it looks no different than if you were installing the software on a PC. Crossover will simulate any reboot the installation process requires. CrossOver contains a useful utility called Bottle Manager. From this window you are able to preform windows native functions like using the task manager, a simulated reboot of the system, or repair/restore applications within the bottle. CrossOver contains a Windows-like start menu useful for finding and opening Windows applications. Another useful feature of CrossOver is the ability to copy and paste between OS X and Windows applications. I found that the command and control keys have the same function in CrossOver. I was able to paste into the window using both CMD-V and CNTRL-V.
I ran into a bug when I began installing Call of Duty. The installation of the first disk went smoothly, however when the install program asked to insert the second disk, I was unable to eject the first disk. The cd drive was in use by crossover. I should note that Call of Duty was listed on the CrossOver website as being untested.
CrossOver advertises that it supports Half Life 2, so I decided to buy the game to test out how CrossOver performs with a resource intensive game such as this. I tested the game on an iMac with a 2.16 Core 2 Duo and 2 GB of RAM. I found that Half Life 2 is compatible with CrossOver and works pretty well over all. It is not error free however. The opening cut scene only contains audio and displays a white screen. I found that this didn't take too much away from the game. At times the game will hiccup or skip (sounding like a skipping CD) for a minute or two. Most times this clears up but some times the player must save and then exit the program. I found that pausing the game for about a minute helps let the game catch up. Overall, the occasional errors in the game did not make it unplayable. In my opinion, CrossOver does a good job allowing a graphics intense game like this to run fairly smoothly. CrossOver may not be for you if you are an avid gamer who demands high quality performance with no lag time, but I think it is perfect for those of us who like the ability to run a game or two on the Mac without buying Windows.
I had great success using CrossOver to run my copy of Microsoft Office 2000. The web site states that they support Office through Office 2003. However, Access only works with Office 2000. I was very impressed with the ease of installation and the seamless integration into OS X. As a military member I use Microsoft Office products regularly at work. I have previously used Microsoft Office for Mac to be able to work from home. However, I have never been a fan of the layout and all of the floating formatting pallets. I am excited to have found a product that will allow me to use the windows version of Office on my Mac – especially since Access is not available at all in the Mac version. I would gladly pay the $59.99 in order to use Office alone, but there is an ever growing list of supported Windows applications. Some of these include Microsoft Project and Quicken. Office ran so close to its native speed that I was unable to tell any performance degradation caused by the emulator.
As a whole, I think CrossOver is a great product. I think many military members will find it closes the compatibility gap between our Microsoft work system and our Mac home systems. CodeWeavers has stated that some games tend to slow down a bit at times, but claim they are making improvements to the program. If you would like to be able to run Windows Office or the few games well supported and don't need a broader selection of Windows apps on your Mac, CrossOver is a much more affordable solution than the more popular virtualization tools on the market.
System Requirements:
* Intel processor
* 120MB of hard-drive space