CodeWeavers releases CrossOver 20, big rebranding with 'PortJump and ExecMode'

CodeWeavers, one of the biggest sponsors of the compatibility layer Wine have announced a major rebranding along with the release of Crossover 20.

For those not too clued up, here's the lowdown with a tiny bit of backstory to set the scene for you: Wine is a compatibility layer that allows you to run Windows applications and games on (up until now, see below) Linux and macOS. CodeWeavers have their own software called CrossOver which integrates Wine, plus a fancy interface and often some special patches along with direct support and CodeWeavers developers work directly on Wine which is free and open source for everyone.

For a few years now, CodeWeavers have also been working with Valve on Steam Play Proton, the fork of Wine dedicated to gaming on Steam + Linux. Not only that, they also offer direct porting and support services to developers wanting to get their stuff onto different platforms. They've now given these services some actual names with "PortJump" and "ExecMode". From the press release:

"It’s the first time we put names and branding into our porting service (PortJump) and our consulting service (ExecMode)." Founder and CEO of CodeWeavers Jeremy White reveals. "Rest assured my open-source aficionados, the new branding only enhances our commitment to Wine and the open-source community. We believe in building up the open source community. In building up the next generation of talent. The best people will be attracted to the greatest causes. And we don’t care what the popular kids think. All while preserving the mischievous humor we enjoy so much."

They also just recently released CrossOver 20 which includes showing application "ranking" (how well it's likely to work) within CrossOver itself, it upgrades to use Wine 5.0, adds brand new support for ChromeOS, later macOS support, and on Linux it allows CrossOver to upgrade itself along with refreshed Linux distro support.

As for this rebranding, CodeWeavers think of themselves something like Robin Hood, claiming they're some kind of software "liberator" and that they believe there's "no such thing as a closed platform".

See all on the CodeWeavers website.