[Wine] *How good is Wine?

[GaryHeart]

Hello World, 

I am a newcomer to this technology. I am very pleased to have found it and VERY interested in using it, as a better-cost alternative for schools where I teach open source & Windows technology. I travel the world, and help set up schools in underprivileged countries where it is very expensive to acquire the Windows desktop. Wine seems like a VERY good solution, much better than basic Linux where there is no real economic model. It is kind of a give-and-take when you have to make choices of what to install.

So I ask this group. How far along is wine? Does it match on Par 100% with Windows XP, as far as the API is concerned. My bigger question is, what is the Fidelity/Accuracy of the API against wine? My concern is, if there is allot of divergence, then it would seem like a waste of time to teach kids and adults to program on Wine, if there are shortcuts, or custom API calls.... where such knowledge could not be really applicable for them in the general computer industry yet.

Please let me know. I would like to spend more time on this, and contribute to this group and product however I can, financially and otherwise. I hope to understand what is going on in this brilliant movement here with Wine. Thanks! :D

Best regards,

Gary Heart.