Haiku, the operating system that reminds us how spectacular BeOS was, is renewed with the support of Windows apps

Jean-Louis Gassée left Apple in 1991 with a fixed idea: that operating system called Mac OS was not what the world needed. What did? Join forces with Steve Sakoman and create a wonder called BeOS.

His project ended up failing under the might of Windows and Apple’s subsequent purchase of NextSTEP, which would lead to a much more eye-catching Mac OS X. The BeOS operating system did not die entirely, and an Open Source project called Haiku has taken the witness with force. In fact its latest novelty is especially striking, since now it is possible to run Windows applications in Haiku.

WINE is not an emulator, but it is just as magical

The key to that renewed Windows application support in Haiku comes thanks to WINE (‘Wine Is Not an Emulator’, as its famous recursive acronym says), a reimplementation of the Windows Win16 and Win32 APIs that allows the execution of programs for different versions of Windows.

In the past it was now possible to run MS-DOS applications thanks to the presence of DOSbox and also adapted versions of Linux applications —including those that use the X11 window system, another recent novelty—, but the Haiku operating system now goes further with that support for Windows applications.

What explained the developer who has worked on moving WINE to Haiku, there is still work to be done, but there were several users who already tried that support and demonstrated that it was possible to run, for example applications such as Inkscape, notepad or a file explorer called Imagine Browser.

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All this makes this special operating system more meaningful than ever for those who want to try it, something that can be done by downloading it from the official website of the project. Hardware support continues to improve, and it is possible to use the system in any of the 28 available languages. Undoubtedly, a great alternative for those who want a system other than traditional Windows, macOS or Linux.

Via | The Register

Reference-www.xataka.com