Wine 10.0 launches with enhanced compatibility for Windows apps on Linux

The Wine team has announced the release of Wine 10.0, with several important improvements to enable Windows applications to run seamlessly on Linux systems. The latest version comes with over 6,000 changes across the board.
Wine 10.0 is a major milestone for ARM support
Wine 10.0 aims to improve the functionality and broadening compatibility of Windows apps, particularly for users on ARM-based devices. One area improves the running of aplications on ARM machines.
One of the most notable features of Wine 10.0 is the support for Arm64EC, which stands for Arm Emulation Compatible, an application binary interface (ABI) for Arm devices. The new version of Wine allows users to run x86 apps on ARM devices natively; yes this supports 64-bit x86 emulation.
The update also introduces better support for the Wayland graphics driver, replacing the traditional X Window System (X11) with OpenGL compatibility. Users can choose between the default X11 or the Wayland driver as required. Furthermore, the update also brings significant improvements to graphics driver support, particularly enhancements for high-DPI displays, and non-DPI aware windows. Users may want to check out the Joystick Control Panel applet called joy.cpl to manage some advanced settings.
Wine 10.0 allows for automatic scaling of application windows that may not have inherent support for higher resolutions, offering a better user experience on modern hardware. Additionally, Direct3D support has been upgraded for legacy applications, improving overall compatibility with older games and software. Wine 10.0 brings a Bluetooth driver, albeit with some basic functionality.
This shift is expected to enhance performance for a variety of Windows applications running on Linux. Wine has gained significant popularity over the years among gamers who use it to play games on their Linux systems. e.g. Valve/Steam's Proton uses Wine as a compatibility layer which is also available on Steam Deck. Wine is also used for Crossover on Linux/macOS.
Try asking Valve/Steam. SteamOS, a specialized linux, ability to run most games is based on Wine, DXVK (directx to vulkan), since obviously they do not have access to some massive secret repository of linux versions of all games.
You are not really turning the OS into windows, lots of the stuff is not there at all, but you do have to worry about the windows games / apps actually being wellbehaved. Wine does not mean VM-level isolation, so some worrying is in order.
Then again, lots will simply not run, due to the anticheats being entirely unsafe for you and incompatible on linux, same as some antipiracy-DRM
Then there are launchers that the games depend on to log you in correctly, that mess up the application of the specific set of wine and dxvk tweaks to the game to run properly. You’ve probably used a few on windows without actually realizing it, until you one day try to lauch the game directly from the main executable instead of the annoying launcher and it flat out refuses.
What about the security risks for a Linux powered PC when using Wine ?
I have the impression, based on warning-messages on internet, that at using Wine you flip an inherently more secure OS (Linux) to an inherently less secure OS (than Window, which has abundant security aids).
@Anonymous: Supposedly, while ransomware will attack the Linux side from Wine, it wouldn’t know to elevate to root privileges on the Linux side. A related opinion I found is that most attacks exploit a Windows flaw that won’t usually exist in WINE, but this was on Reddit posted circa 2023. YMMV.
I’m not sure as I’m new to Linux and still don’t know a lot, but I think programs that run through Proton or Wine, run in some kind of a container, similar to a Virtual Machine, not quite the same as it’s much more seamless and much less contained, but I think there is still an emulation layer and as soon as you close that program and the emulation layer is also closed/disabled, that’s it.
Also, even if the Windows program you’re running has access to creating and deleting files, they are mostly useless on their own as if we assume something malicious is downloading and installing viruses on your Linux computer through Proton/Wine, they are still intended to run in a authentic Windows environment, not an emulation layer, so they can’t function at all because of missing critical requirements.
At least that’s how I picture the whole thing in my mind, I could very well be wrong, but I think Linux has several inconspicuous ways of being secure compared to Windows:
1. As I said above – it running Windows programs through an isolated on-demand emulation layer
2. The incompatibilities that arise for viruses and their inability to run due to the reasons above
3. Security Through Obscurity – Linux still not being widely enough adopted so virus developers don’t bother creating THAT MANY viruses for Linux and especially, I don’t think anyone would take it into account that a Linux user might run Windows programs through Proton/Wine, therefore the virus being adapted to run effectively through that somewhat contained emulation layer.
It’s currently the same for Firefox – web developers don’t bother testing their websites on Firefox, because its market share is so small and continues to become smaller, that they see no point in wasting time, money and energy to do it at all.
Linux is by no means 100% safe, but at least at this point, it’s safe enough that you can run pretty much anything from Windows and not have to worry. Also there is no real antivirus program for Linux, except maybe Clam Antivirus, which I’ve tried on both Windows and Linux and it’s basically a glorified on-demand scanner, so unless you scan, you can’t know if you’re infected or not.
I would love to hear how is Linux more secured than Windows… Linux fanboys love throwing claims like that with no real substance in their answer.
Any software connected to the internet will always have vulnerabilities, more users = more vulnerabilities that will be discovered, etc etc.
The good thing about Windows? Windows doesn’t need dumb WINE to run programs, especially if we talk about professional software that is either Mac/Windows or Windows exclusive… in theory, it’s more the programs Linux fanboys want to run that don’t have a native Linux version vs what Windows users want from Linux ?
@Tom Jerry,
You sound like a Windows fanboy, what’s your point again, because I don’t see it? Windows has support for programs, because in the 90s Microsoft were threatened by Linux so they sabotaged it and became a monopoly.
You are praising a company/environment that became popular not on its own merits, but through dishonest and criminal methods instead. I’ve used Windows from XP until 11 and it didn’t improve at all, only got worse. Well, from XP to 7 it improved, but after that it degraded. Now it feels like something designed for mentally insufficient people who don’t know any better.
Also, I never said Linux was secure, but something in my post hit you so hard that the pain it caused you, resulted in you twisting my words in your head to suit your narrative. If Linux gets more market share, currently it’s sitting around 4% world market share (up from 1% from 10 years ago), and reaches something like 10% world market share, it will become more targeted by virus developers, like how MacOS is and it will be less secure than it is now.