Running a windows APP on MAC

Question

I just done a presentation to a client of mine of a commercial windows application I just made available. The problem is that this client just has Mac machines. I don't know the Mac OS version.

So how can run this APP on Mac?

This APP is created in Delphi 2007 Win32.

What solutions do I have available?

Answer 1

Run it using a Wine/VirtualBox/VmWare/Bootcamp/Parallels? Delphi 2007 isn't directly portable to Mac

Answer 2

WINE.

http://wiki.winehq.org/MacOSX

Answer 3

For commercial quality deployments, I would only look at VMWare fusion. Your clients can run Windows on their macs, inside a VM, and run your App inside that VM. Parallels is okay, but VMWare fusion is head and shoulders higher than everything else out there. I currently use VMWare fusion heavily, with delphi apps I wrote myself, and it works great for me.

WINE is cool, but I wouldn't support it commercially, as a single-person shop, or small shop, the technical depth of the problems involved in fixing glitches caused by a WINE-and-your-vertical-market application don't make business sense. If your time is worth money, just go with a full windows VM solution, and forget about WINE.

You should also be aware that a cross platform Delphi that targets Mac OS X is also in the works.

PS As the other answers above state, your clients would have to pay for a VMWare Fusion license per machine, plus a copy of Windows, per machine.

PPS It has been pointed out to me that draconian new rules apply to the use of Windows 7, on virtual machines.

PPPS I have just learned directly from a Microsoft person familiar with the licensing, that a Full Packaged Product (FPP) Windows 7 license can be used on one machine, or one VM instance, such as VMWare Fusion on your Mac, and that this is fully legal, and that Microsoft has no problems with this.

Answer 4

Windows 7 Licensing in Virtual Environments

From the MS site Licensing for Virtual Environments see the link (.DOCX) licensing windows7 with VM technologies

Answer 5

You should look into CrossOver from CodeWeavers: http://www.codeweavers.com/products/crossover/

This is basically a commercial version of Wine with many advanced features beyond the free Wine as well as excellent support from CodeWeavers.

The also offer valuable services to help if there are problems with running your application as is under Crossover: http://www.codeweavers.com/services/engagements/

The disadvantage of any VM based solution is obviously that your customer would have to buy windows licenses and licenses for the VM solution for all their machines and then basically end up having to maintain 2 OSs on each machine, MacOSX and the Windows installation in the VM.

Answer 6

Take a look at Lazarus | Lazarus for Delphi Users . It supports the creation of self-standing graphical and console applications and runs on Linux, FreeBSD, MacOSX and Windows.

Answer 7

There is a new product that allows you to compile VCL applications for Mac http://www.crossvcl.com . The problem is that third party component support is limited.

Answer 8

Windows 7 is the most current and I believe the most convenient version of MS Windows. If you intend to use any of the virtualization software like VirtualBox, Wine, Parallels, VMWare, to run a Windows application in a Mac/OS/X (the host machine), bear in mind that you will still need the Windows 7 CD/license (or XP CD) to install/mount Windows as a virtual machine (the guest machine).

I have installed VirtualBox (free) on my MacBook and then I installed Windows XP on it and Windows runs nice and easy; for home use I think this is fantastic but wouldn't be so sure for commercial use. For commercial use I would go with either Parallels or VMWare because of the support that you can get, but only you know about your requirements.

The price for a license of these VMs may very well beat the price of a Windows computer but, remember that a new Windows computer may be the most straight forward alternative for you and your client.

Hope this helps answer your concerns. Good luck!