[Wine] Re: Difference Between WINE and an Emulator

[Scott Ritchie]

On Thu, 2006-12-07 at 11:59 +1000, Edward Savage wrote:
> >An emulator is a specific type of program that mimics hardware.
> Windows
> > is not a piece of hardware, ergo Wine Is Not an Emulator. It's
> merely a
> > clone of the Windows API.
> 
> This is probably the best answer you will get that is clear and
> simple.  Out of interest the term I use to explain to others the
> concept is that WINE is a compatibility layer between Linux and
> Windows.  Does that seem an accurate use of the word? It tends to set
> the right impression in the minds of the people I've explained it
> too.  

Yes.  What Wine is doing is actually very similar to the way Windows XP
runs programs originally made for Windows 95, and the way Vista will run
programs written for Windows XP.  Most people agree that Windows isn't
"emulating" itself.

Thanks,
Scott Ritchie