Comment by justin66
13 years ago
> WINE is a translator that allows Windows programs (those that have an .exe extension) to talk to other Operating Systems.
I'm sure the aforementioned freshmen would like a no-bullshit explanation for why "emulator" hurts the WINE people's feelings but "translator" does not. It's always been a mystery to me.
> no-bullshit explanation
Hah! Not really possible, especially considering that the project used to be called windows emulator:
I'd say they've changed the meaning so they can reinforce that it's not just another virtual machine ( and that it's faster than one).
Which is true, it doesn't emulate another hardware architecture's calls, just the kernel and OS magic needed.
In that regard, think of say a console game or arcade game emulator on a computer- that will have to emulate the whole architecture of said game system as well as the game.
Contrast that to a game program for the the x86 architecture, but not for windows- you could run it natively on windows providing you change everything the game asks for that's part of the Gamesystem380 system into something windows understands, and vice versa.