cool

This is...amazing. This literally will change the world of OSes forever.

If I'm reading this correctly, Linux incompatibility will never ever be a problem again

Doubt it.

That sounds pretty damn ambitious.

nice, so i will finally be able to use stuff like photoshop, illustrator, premiere, and aftereffects on linux.

one problem-- how expensive will this emulator be?

Hmm... that article didnt really explain how it works at all. Of course, the company probably doesnt want the inner workings of the software to become public knowledge yet. If this is for real, its a pretty big breakthrough.

That would mean bye bye Microsoft though. w00t! I can't wait!

The image of a Mac running Q3A looks real enough... D***, this could be the biggest software breakthrough since the development of CoBol. (If I remmebr the name right) If this is for real, then I certainly hope the company's prepared to go face-to-face with Microsoft, which will certainly use its exhaustive supply of money to engage the company in indefinite litigation, and I know that Microsoft isn't above bribing...

But if the company survives, then MS-Windows is goodbye! Once I get my X800, I can play Doom3 on Linux, and get 60fps. W00t!

While it too bugs me that companies don't give a real explaination of how their software works, it's perfectly understandable for them to want to keep their techniques secret, as giving them out is almost like giving out one's source code.

That reminds me - when is the Linux port of Doom3 coming out?

/hijack

Did someone totally burst out laughing when they read the Q3A part with Macs, like I did?

The reason being: IT'S BEEN DONE, FOR A LONG TIME.

All you have to do is install linux on the freakin Mac! Q3A runs under Linux! DUH!!!!

As far as I know, it isn't. Id decided from the beginning they were going to port it to the XBox and the Xbox alone, which is very strange... the Doom3 engine is written in OpenGL, which meant a massive effort to translate it into DirectX, and because of the pitiful power of the XBox (It's a flippin' Celeron 733Mhz and GeForce 3, for cryin' out loud!), quality of the game is greatly reduced (The screenshots, while still impressive, are nothing compared to how the PC version looks, and I guess that the framerate for the XBox version will be 15 at best). Personally, It would have been a far better idea for Id to port it to the Mac, then you'd have reason to have those dual G5 machines! (A Linux version would also have been nice, but if this emulator is for real, then I'll eventually be able to completely ditch Windows)

Does it bother anyone else that in order to run Windows programs under Linux with this emulator, you'd have to be running someone else's arbitrary code to do it? Emulators are a bad idea. They're just another layer of abstraction running underneath everything. (BTW, I'm not buying the "no performance hit" trash until someone proves it). I really don't need yet another layer between my OS and my program, kthx. The future of portability is in the bytecode, not emulation.

If this is true this changes the world as we know it forever. MS used to be a big part of it. Now they wouldn't have to be.

They can't sue them either--the X86 processer isn't theirs to own. <3 this company.

I don't recall them claiming no performance hit. As I recall, they were boasting that it only suffered a 20% hit. As for the extra layer, I don't really mind all that much; Windows itself is far more bloated than any alternative.

I know MS doesn't own the patent for the X86 processor (the patent expired decades ago, and was originally held by Intel). However, Microsoft has a spare cash fund in the billions of dollars... They can literally buy just about anything. A permanent stalemate for Transitive Corp. would cost perhaps only a hundred million dollars, and would save Microsoft from death.

If it is true, whats does this mean for microsoft....

If it were me, I'd turn down the money just to see Microsoft crumble.

I'd still wait for a release of Linux that I prefer over Windows.

I'll believe it when I see it. Don't kill your Windows partition just yet.

I <3 *nix. The console's just frelling sweet. Unfortunately, incompatibility keeps me from using it. Le sigh.

I love the console, but I prefer the Windows shell. Windows with a unix base woulc be fantastic.

Confirmed! I saw a beta test of this product. It was used during the filming of Independence Day. They successfully used the program to upload and execute a virus from a Mac to a never-before-seen Alien computer system. It was even able to display graphics without having prior experience with the displays in question!

DOES NO ONE REMEMBER WHAT HAPPENED TO THE TOWER OF BABEL?!

It's why we have babelfish.

Uhm....cool?

Gold.

And Detty--if we could then have the windows shell be highly customizable, like what they did with Winamp 3/5, yes. Instead of just static skins and buttons, I want a completely customizable gui. I think it'd be awesome to have a radial taskbar.

Um, Q3 is on the Mac natively.

This thing doesn't run Windows programs under Linux or vice versa. The wired article does mention Gimp running under Windows, but Transitive Corporation's own website says:

But it's the Windows version! Can't you tell?!!?

So basically it requres the same or a similar OS to operate between different CPUs. Still amazing.

Going to be handy for testing purposes, definately.

I don't see how this will be the death of Microsoft at all. OK, some of the "Micro$oft" people will switch over, but will the businesses that make up 90% of Microsoft's sales decide to suddenly use Linux? I doubt it; the cost of training someone unused to computers (but can barely use Windows for word processing and such) would far exceed a new copy of Windows. And I don't think anyone can claim that Linux is going to be that great with people who have trouble using Windows XP...

Will these companies use their programs through an unknown and possibly unstable emulator? Or switch from Word and Excel when they've been the industry standard for ten years? Not without a compelling reason. And I don't think there are many middle-management types out there that would go through all the effort just to use Linux to play Solitaire. Hell, does Linux even have Minesweeper? Employees would be up in arms if they were left without Freecell!

Pate--do you realize how hard it is to operate Windows day to day compared to Linux? Linux you're up and going in 5 seconds, and to use is even simpler than windows' way. The only good thing about windows is it dumbs EVERYTHING down, basically, except the very basics. Seriously, if you learned on Linux you would be just fine.

I want to play games on my Mac...yay?

Yay indeed, Echoman.

the next time someone says that all people who use windows are incompitant computer illiterates, I will take that as a personal attack.

I am completly computer literate but I see no need to have to mess with source code and put in emulaters like that to run programs when it is just as easy to install them in windows.

to anyone who says I am a stupid windows fanboy, I do not care about your computer crashes while using windows, most crashes are caused by people trying to do things that the software or hardware was not designed for.

That made a whole lot of sense.

People who use windows are for the most part computer illiterate.

Happy? I'm going to say it many times over and over again. Why? Because it's true.

...what? Does anyone else see the irony here?