Can I do this in WINE?

[Bret Comstock Waldow]

James Hawkins wrote:
> A person using native Windows DLLs
> with Wine may be violating copyright law or the MS EULA if they don't
> own a licensed copy of Windows.
That is of no concern with what I'm doing, as only the person who owns
the Tablet PC and has the license for the copy of Tablet XP that comes
with it will use the system, and only on the Tablet PC the Windows
software is licensed for.
>   We only advise licensed users of
> Windows to use their DLLs in Wine, and even then its' only as a last
> resort because it's detrimental in the long run to the project
> (developmentally, not legally).
>
> http://wiki.winehq.org/FAQ#head-d9796202650e186ec37698c0c8d2a18bebf6862c
>   
I understand it's detrimental in the long run.

As I mentioned, I'm hoping to jump-start the Tablet software eco-system
on Linux by making it (legally) possible to have functional handwriting
recognition now, with as much as possible of the surrounding software
written as Free or at least Open Source Software.

As the support springs up around it, eventually, only the actual
handwriting recognition engine itself need be replaced, and the ability
to use the Tablet in the meantime means more and more people will want
that, and more and more people (Graduate Students?) will have an
incentive, and supporting software, to write it for.

It's a hack, but then, isn't that what WINE is for?  To keep people
booted into Linux and off Windows?

I'll also look into getting some of the proprietary handwriting software
available as a module people can pay for and run on Linux with my
existing client (plus improvements) or other clients others may write. 
But right now I'm investigating whether the recognition I've already
paid for can be used in Linux via WINE, just as the Wordpad and
Solitaire and MineSweeper I've already paid for can be used in Linux via
WINE.

If you have a better proposal to solve the problem I'm addressing, I and
lots of other Tablet users I read on the Ubuntu forums and elsewhere
would love to hear it - people are crying for this, and the reason you
don't hear it a lot is that Tablets are not really usable AS TABLETS in
Linux - we can't really get started.  But telling us not do do it just
because you might have no need for it personally isn't really addressing
what we need.

The only reason to support Office is because people want it, and won't
get off Windows unless they can use it anyway.  That's what I'm trying
to do for Tablet users.

Cheers,
Bret