Cedega |
Cedega (formerly known as WineX) is TransGaming Technologies proprietary software Fork (software) of Wine (software), which is designed specifically for running personal computer games written for Microsoft Windows under Linux. As such, its primary focus is implementing the DirectX application programming interface.
The community has managed to keep Wine (software) in touch with developments in Cedega; many of the games and 3D applications perform almost as well as when natively running under Microsoft Windows.
WineX was renamed to Cedega on the release of version 4.0 on June 22, 2004.
=Point2Play=
Along with Cedega itself, subscribers have access to a front-end/launcher for Cedega called Point2Play. Point2Play allows for simpler management of games, with each new game having its own fake Windows installation created automatically at install time. Version 2.0.3 of Point2Play was released on August 11, 2005.
=Licenses=
Transgaming makes the source available from a Concurrent_Versions_System under a non-Free license, and while the license would permit non-commercial redistribution of the software, Transgaming has threatened to close their parts of the source entirely if this would happen. They also strongly discourage distributions like Gentoo Linux from using the CVS source and letting people build their own version of Cedega.
=Controversy=
While Cedega is popular among many GNU/Linux users, there is a sizeable portion of the community that refuses to use the program. There are three main reasons for this.
==Free riding on the free software community==
Many in the community object to Transgaming s business practices by making a quick buck off the back of the Wine project, without contributing back. Transgaming obtained the source to the original Wine project when it was under a BSD license (non copyleft) and this license placed no requirements on how TransGaming published their software. TransGaming, unlike other companies with similar models, decided to release their software as proprietary software. Transgaming does release portions of the source code via Concurrent Version System, however it attaches legal restrictions which mean that it is not free software. TransGaming have included CD copy protection software which they say they are under contract with SecuROM and SafeDisc not to disclose.
In reaction, the Wine project changed it s license to the GNU Lesser General Public License (LGPL). This means that anyone who publishes a modified version of Wine, must publish the source code under an LGPL-compatible (and therefore free software) license. TransGaming stopped using code contributed to Wine when the license was changed.
==Reaction to inclusion in Distros==
When some GNU/Linux distributions, notably Debian GNU/Linux and Gentoo, decided to package TransGaming s software, TransGaming threatened to make the license even more restrictive to prohibit this.
Quote from the Cedega license: Note that while this license does permit certain kinds of non-commercial distribution of pre-compiled binary packages of Cedega, doing so on a large scale is discouraged, as it affects TransGaming s ability to continue to improve and develop the code. TransGaming reserves the right to change the license under which TransGaming-owned copyright code is made available, and will not hesitate to do so if non-commercial distribution of pre-compiled binary packages adversely affects the financing of continued development.
==General criticism of the existence of emulators==
Many GNU/Linux users feel that in encouraging development of Cedega, they are discouraging the development of native ports of games or even Linux-exclusive titles.
= See also =
= External links =
*[http://www.transgaming.com/products_linux.php Cedega product description page] *[http://cedegawiki.sweetleafstudios.com/ Unofficial Transgaming Wiki] — User-maintained database of games that work and don t work with Cedega, along with game-specific setup instructions *[http://cvs.transgaming.org/cgi-bin/viewcvs.cgi/winex/ CVS of Cedega] *[http://www.transgaming.com/sources.php Cedega/WineX sources page]|
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