Crossover 7.0

When I reviewed Crossover 6.0 I was impressed but overall thought that it was all a little complicated with all the ‘bottles’ involved, and somewhat limited in the applications that it could run.

To be honest I had forgotten all about it partly it has to be said because I have next to no reason to run any windows application on the Mac. Then as is very often the case a couple of things coincided:

• I was down with our insurance broker in the marina. He had just got a new iMac so I ended up showing him stuff and realised that he had Crossover installed and was really happy with it, and
• The opportunity to review Crossover 7.0 came up.

If it hadn’t been for the first coincidence I wouldn’t have bothered with a review to be honest, but I thought I would give it a go.

First observation from their site is that they are still claiming is ‘simple and fast’:

CrossOver Mac allows you to install many popular Windows applications and games on your Intel OS X Mac. CrossOver includes an easy to use, single click interface, which makes installing Windows software simple and fast. Once installed, your application integrates seamlessly in OS X. Just click and run your application directly from the OS X Finder. Clicking a Windows file or document — including email attachments — will launch the appropriate Windows program, allowing you to work on the files. Best of all, you do it all easily and affordably, without needing a Microsoft operating system license.

They have two options, standard ($37) and professional ($64) that I don’t recall having before?

As far as supported applications go they have a Compatability Centre that lists over 4,500 supported applications that I suggest you check out if you are thinking of buying Crossover. The site as you expect leads with the Microsoft applications that it supports as after all that remains the applications greatest strength – the ability to run your existing applications on your Mac without having to purchase a Windows Operating System license.

The application itself is easy to use, you basically fire it up, install the windows application you want to use and that is pretty much it. Starting that application is no more cumbersome that any of the other options in the market that I have looked at, and speed wise there is no noticeable difference between these applications and the Mac applications, but I was running this on a Mac Pro.

I think though that the application is still to restricted to be your sole Windows option on the Mac. That isn’t necessarily a bad thing though!!! If (as in the case of our insurance broker) you just want it to run Internet Explorer (6.0 only not 7.0 though) then it is a great option, and if you just want to be able to run some older versions of windows applications once in a while it is a great option, but if you are a heavy Windows user on the Mac it just doesn’t feel robust and powerful enough to me.

All of which is a bit of a shame as it is a project and a application that I think is worth supporting, but it just seems to be too much ‘in the past’ when it comes to relevant applications that will run on it.

Gamers on the other hand I think would probably get more value out of it, especially ‘old school’ gamers who want to run some of their past favourites every now and again.

So in summary, an improvement on 6.0 in terms of speed and applications supported. Still a little too limited for the majority, but where it suits your own specific needs for windows on the Mac an absolutely great application.