James Ramey"Why so serious?"
One of my favorite movies characters is Heath Ledger's portrayal of The Joker from The Dark Knight. The character is so entertaining that you overlook the nuances and depth of The Joker; and because Ledger was so convincing in this role (as if it were a part of himself), you forget that he spent almost six months preparing to become this character on screen. In many ways, I consider this latest release of CrossOver 14 to be a similar artistic masterpiece.
"Do you want to know how I got these scars?"
There is a lot of work that goes into creating a new version of CrossOver. The process is slow and filled with as much hope as modest disappointments, defined by hours and hours of development and testing. Applications are identified, triaged, bugs reported, farmed out to a team of developers, programmed, and tested. The process is then repeated again and again and again without the mission ever really ending. The scars from this process are visible with their own unique stories and worn like badges of honor. It’s these scars, earned over the past 17 years and fourteen releases of CrossOver that makes CodeWeavers what we are today.
"Plan? Do I look like the kind of guy that has a plan?"
Each release of CrossOver software follows an age-old plan. While the goal is to always develop the very best version of our software possible, the reality is that we face constraints like money and manpower (which prevent certain applications and games from being supported). The plan then shifts to compromising between the ideal and the reality. Build software that is more useful, more functionality, easier to use, closer to perfect all the while providing the end user more joy today than it delivered yesterday in a reasonable amount of time. Sound easy? The challenge is in the compromise. Do you wait until you've achieved perfection? Do you deliver when you've improved the product, even slightly? Do you define your success by the applications you support? Or do you define your success in that you've continued to move the needle forward?
"I'm just ahead of the curve."
As CrossOver continues to improve, the Utopian desire of total interoperability is closer to becoming a reality. One platform, no limits giving end users choices and options when it comes to their technology. Today, we can run Windows applications on either Mac or Linux computers. Tomorrow, we will be able to run Windows applications on Android. In doing so, we will further extend the options for end users from hardware platforms and software compatibility to total mobility on multiple Intel based devices. We're excited at what the future holds for us (especially considering what its taken to deliver fourteen version of CrossOver); and with each new version, we get closer to reaching the goal of perfection (constraints be damned).
"When you decide to get serious about your 'bat problem', give me a call. Here's my card."
Everyone at CodeWeavers is focused on building a better product. So when our end users come to us with games and applications that they want to run on their Mac and Linux computers, we take those comments very seriously. Much of the development for CrossOver 14 came about because customers have either directly or indirectly requested it. The people spoke, and we went about tracking down the problems until they were fixed (or minimized). It's how Quicken 15 came to be supported. It's how a number of new games came to be supported. It's how functionality in Office 2010 came to be supported. While there aren't always dramatic changes, CrossOver 14 does include a new GUI interface that makes installing and running Windows applications even easier. And if there are other applications and games you want to see in the next release of CrossOver, give us a call or send us an email or shine a light into the dark night (maybe not so much the light). We'll continue to listen and work to fix your problems so that your experience with CrossOver is as good as it can be.
About James B. Ramey
James B. Ramey is the CEO of CodeWeavers. His life long love of video gaming started at the tender age of six with an Atari 2600 and evolved over time to include Nintendo, Super Nintendo, Apple Mac IIc, Windows PC, and MacBook Pro. When not fiddling with technology, James enjoys cooking, travel, debating politics in the office, and spending time with his wife, daughter, and their two rescue dogs. For the past 20 years, James has worked with clients around the world in best implementing technology to maximize a return on their investment. He is a graduate of Moorhead State University and earned his MBA from the University of Phoenix. You can find James on Twitter at @jbramey.