On Thu, 2006-12-07 at 11:59 +1000, Edward Savage wrote:
An emulator is a specific type of program that mimics hardware.
Windows
is not a piece of hardware, ergo Wine Is Not an Emulator. It's
merely a
clone of the Windows API.
This is probably the best answer you will get that is clear and simple. Out of interest the term I use to explain to others the concept is that WINE is a compatibility layer between Linux and Windows. Does that seem an accurate use of the word? It tends to set the right impression in the minds of the people I've explained it too.
Yes. What Wine is doing is actually very similar to the way Windows XP runs programs originally made for Windows 95, and the way Vista will run programs written for Windows XP. Most people agree that Windows isn't "emulating" itself.
Thanks, Scott Ritchie