One aspect of the Linux vs. Windows face-off that has so far perpetually tilted the balance of force in favor of Microsoft's proprietary operating system is the rich ecosystem of software and hardware solutions built around the platform. The open source Linux operating system fails to enjoy similar support from the environment of hardware manufacturers and software developers as does Windows. And in this context, a clear victory is marked for Microsoft's Evangelism department. However, despite having topped the open source community, the Redmond company has failed to do the same with its Internet rival from Mountain View. Google is one of the success driving factors behind the open source browser Firefox, and now it is throwing its weight behind Linux, slapping Windows.

"Google uses Wine to implement Linux support for Picasa. Beyond that, Google has been supporting Wine in several other ways. Perhaps the biggest news is that we hired Codeweavers to make Photoshop CS and CS2 work better under Wine. Photoshop is one of those applications that Desktop linux users are constantly clamoring for, and we're happy to say they work pretty well now. Perhaps not coincidentally, apps like Flash 8 are now starting to work in Wine, too. We look forward to further improvements in this area," revealed Dan Kegel, Software Engineering Team and Wine 1.0 Release Manager.

Sponsoring the availability of Photoshop CS2 and CS3 on Linux via Wine could be nothing more than a signal from Google that it is ready to support financially the porting of additional Windows software to Linux. For Microsoft, having the same solutions available for both Linux and Windows, with no extra effort from developers and with no performance or functionality degradation through Wine, could spell the start of the open source platform going mainstream in the detriment of its own proprietary operating system. With its support of Firefox against Internet Explorer Google has shown that it can be done. Will the same be the case for Linux and Windows?

"Wine is an Open Source implementation of the Windows API on top of X, OpenGL, and Unix. Think of Wine as a compatibility layer for running Windows programs. Wine does not require Microsoft Windows, as it is a completely free alternative implementation of the Windows API consisting of 100% non-Microsoft code, however Wine can optionally use native Windows DLLs if they are available. Wine provides both a development toolkit for porting Windows source code to Unix as well as a program loader, allowing many unmodified Windows programs to run on x86-based Unixes, including Linux, FreeBSD, Mac OS X, and Solaris," reads the official description of Wine.