[plug] ATO online and Linux compatibility

[Craig Ringer]

Newton, Ty wrote:
> Hi Leon,
> 
> Thanks for the offer of assistance with Java on Linux.  
> 
> Unfortunately the etax application is currently developed in a Windows
> only language and it is very unlikely that it will be redeveloped in the
> near future.

That's actually not as total a barrier as you might expect. Corel ported 
their Windows version of PhotoPaint over using libwine, allowing them to 
avoid having to rewrite it to use an OS abstraction layer or rewrite all 
the parts that directly used the Win32 API. More recently, Macromedia 
have worked with CodeWeavers to tune Flash MX for use under CrossOver 
Office.

http://www.codeweavers.com/site/about/general/press/?id=20031027

It is possible to get WINE to run Windows applications without any 
changes to the application, too. Running Microsoft Office under 
CrossOver Office is an excellent example. It is possible to tweak and 
tune an application to run better under WINE, and I expect doing that 
would make getting it working much easier.

The CodeWeavers folks might be willing to work with the vendor of the 
eTax software, or the ATO developers if it was built in-house, to make 
such a process go a bit more smoothly. I don't know how they handle 
contract work, and I'm not affiliated with them in any way - I'm simply 
pointing this out as a possible alternative to "rewrite the application" 
  when it comes to getting eTax running under Linux.

--
Craig Ringer