When i started transitioning from windows to linux a few years ago, i used to have many doubts in my mind. I used to wonder what software to use for common tasks. Then i came across osalt which answered most of my questions.In that site, you can enter the name of the windows application and it will list all the open source alternatives that provide similar functionality. If you cannot find a suitable open source alternative or you are obsessed with a specific windows software, then installing windows application on linux is the only option you are left with.Yes, i know using VM ware / Virtual Machine is also an alternative but in most cases its considered as an overkill. There are many softwares available online, most of them free, which enables to run windows applications on linux. Wine is one such software that stands out tall.
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:ubuntu-wine/ppa sudo apt-get update sudo apt-get install wine
Once wine is installed successfully, download the setup file for the windows software of your choice and right click on the file to open with “Wine Windows Program Loader“. Run the wizard and the software will be installed in your machine. Once you have wine on your machine, you can access your favorite windows applications right from your linux machine. But then, you are forced to download setup installers for all the softwares you wanted to install on wine. To overcome this, you can look at Playonlinux.
Playonlinux is a piece of software which lets you to easily install numerous apps designed to run with windows. Playonlinux mainly relies on Wine. You can install Playonlinux using the instructions specified in this blog post. In case you are using ubuntu, you can install Playonlinux from Ubuntu software centre. Once installed, you can search for your desired software in Playonlinux and mark it for install.
“The only source of knowledge is experience – Albert Einstein”
sandheepg 