http://www.anthonycargile.com/blog/?p=95 is a blog post that makes it sound like we've hit the promised land already:
--- snip --- In addition to multisim 8, I have also successfully installed Microsoft Office 2003 (for the proprietary features not present in OpenOffice required by some classes, mainly wizards), Visio 2003, and Autodesk Maya PLE 8. Some programs I have had installed for a while which run fine are Project 64 Beta, Morrowind (PC game), Macromedia Flash 8, Macromedia Dreamweaver 8, IDA Pro, and Quicken Premier 2008.
After looking back on all of these Windows programs successfully running on a non-windows platform (Ubuntu Linux, in this case), I have to personally congradulate the Wine team for their efforts on providing the Windows compatability layer for Linux, and the winetricks script author for further enhancing that ability with Microsoft CoreFonts, .net, and registry key installers.
Linux-Windows compatability has really gotten to the point now where a Windows Operating system is almost not even necessary in a Virtual Machine, thanks to Wine, OpenOffice.org, Mono, and the native Linux enhancements for usability in general. These effort have really made the permanent switch much easier than it would have been in 2005 or 2006, since back then one would get in all kinds of trouble for ditching Windows for something else, even in an environment where a Macintosh is somewhat accepted.
But now, I can freely roam with native Ubuntu running, since all of my hardware on my 2007 laptop works, and all required programs needed can also run with no problems. --- snip ---
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Dan Kegel