What are the limitations (if any) of using wine to run windows xp and windows 7 and windows 8/8.1 applications ?
Are there any lists of guidelines or rules for the use of wine?
Are there any special seups on wine that need to be considered?
Are there any tasks that can be better performed using linux vs. Windows ?
I am an new user of linux but i used linux back in the 1960's when i was in engineering school.
I hope that this question is correctly outlined.
Thanks
john mckinnon

Very few Windows applications will actually install and run correctly in wine. Most applications will either fail to install, fail to run, or will be so unstable they're basically unusable. Some do actually work correctly with little or no crashing, but they're the exception, not the rule. Wine should be used as an absolute last resort after ALL other options have been exhausted.

The order goes:
1) Is the application you're interested in available for Linux natively, if not...
2) Is there a native Linux alternative that can do the same thing, if not...
3) Can your machine run Windows as a VM on top of Linux so you can run your application there, if not...
4) Try to use wine.

If you want to know what does/doesn't work in wine, see here:
https://appdb.winehq.org/index.php

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Did you mean "are there best practices that will help me get the most out of Wine"?

If you want to use Wine to play games, then strongly consider using playonlinux.

If you're not using PlayOnLinux, then try to always be using the latest development release of Wine, optionally with the wine-staging patches.

Either way, use appdb to see how the applications you want to run have been reported to work in Wine.

Also consider paying for CodeWeaver's products if you consider them to be worthwhile. They offer demos that you can evaluate.

I really haven't found that to be true. And in your list of priorities, I'd switch #3 and #4.

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The only application I've managed to get working successfully in wine was Notepad++. Everything else has failed. I don't play computer games though, it seems that's where most of the effort in wine is focused, at least judging by their "Top-10" lists on their site.

I don't even bother trying anymore. I just have a Win 7 VM on my machine, if the application doesn't run on Linux and there's no viable alternative, I just run it there. Wine is a waste of time IMO given the power of today's machines, they'll happily run 2-3 VMs without batting an eye, there's no more need to waste time with emulation for something so simple.

1 members found this post helpful.