Hi ppl, I'm relatively new to linux (I've never used it for more that a month or too all this years) now I'm plannig to migrate to linux but I wanted to be certain that I could run some unreplaceable windows software.

1. Will CxOffice be enough to run both office apps and games or will I have to buy wineX to run games?

2. I've installed vmware but it didn't create any icons (not that I'm aware of) in my menu. how to run it? I already have windows xp installed on other partition, will I be able to run it with VMware? how?

I'm using Mandrake 9.1 and KDE 3.1

1. you'll need winex for games

2. type "vmware". see their docs for usage etc...

Crossover Office only runs MS Office, as far as I know. And I wouldn't say MS Office is irreplacable. OpenOffice is easily comparable to it, and quite compatible with it in many cases. You will want Wine or WineX for games, if you're into that sort of thing.

Also, I'm pretty sure VMware creates a separate, self-contained Windows installation inside of Linux. You'll probably be able to get at the files and whatnot on your XP partition, but I don't think you'll be able to run programs that are installed on it; they must be re-installed inside VMware.