Developing WINE-Friendly Windows Software?

Michael Fourdraine asks: "I'd like to hear the Slashdot community view on if there is any merit in trying to develop a Windows compatible software and trying to make it compatible with WINE. Personally I have had no experience in Win32 or Linux software Development, but I still wonder if it is possible to develop a game to run under Windows and optimize it for WINE at the same time. If so, why don't developers take advantage of that option? Or does it simply make more sense to stick to developing one product and then port it to multiple platforms? Finally if there is anyone developing any software in this form what do developers keep in mind during development in order to ensure smooth usage under WINE?"

Schitzo

[Anonymous Coward]

Programming specifically for an emulator (I know WINE Is Not an Emulator) is counterproductive. Emulators tend to introduce its own ideosyncracies that the programmer must wrap around. Programs written with an emulator in mind will be dependent on two artifical limitations: that of the intended API and the emulator environment and in many instances, these two environments can be exclusive of each other so you can be stuck with satisfying only one option.
Writing specifically for Windows gives Microsoft more validity. Supporting WINE implies that you are pretty anti-Microsoft and that your actions are meant to negate the purpose of Microsoft's framework. By making an application fall under both Windows and WINE, you are supporting Microsoft while trying to lead away Microsoft users, a bad idea. The whole reason for WINE's existance is to provide a temporary bridge between Windows and Linux so that users entrenched applications can migrate over. WINE is meant to support older applications only. Pre-existing applications normally require a high cost of porting. When you write your application, you have the freedom to choose which operating systems you want to support and therefore the entire WINE paradigm is moot.
The best approach would be to make the core of your application portable while implementing OS-dependent support modules that handle every function that depends on a specific OS, either Linux or Windows in this case. If the Windows module is conservative, it should be able to run under WINE.

Cute

[Per Wigren]

I have a better suggestion! Use Qt [trolltech.no] instead! That way you can compile your software with little or no changes for Windows, MacOS-X and Linux/Unix, and get the native look and feel on all platforms..

There are alternative crossplatform GUI-kits such as wxWindows, GTK2, FLTK and more, but they are only GUI-kits. Qt is a complete development plattform with crossplattform support for databases, networking, components, regexps, OpenGL, localization and much more, besides just the look and feel...

Re:Schitzo

[1010011010]

Writing specifically for Windows gives Microsoft more validity. Supporting WINE implies that you are pretty anti-Microsoft and that your actions are meant to negate the purpose of Microsoft's framework.

This is an extremely Microsoft-centric view. Perhaps he simply wants to make his software usable by more people in the easiest way possible.

By making an application fall under both Windows and WINE, you are supporting Microsoft while trying to lead away Microsoft users, a bad idea.

And why is that? It's not like Microsoft is the Promised Land.