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Ask HN: What are my options to run Windows programs on Linux?

7 points by phakding ↗ HN
We use Linux desktops at work and all our development/release is on Linux. We are however using Office 365 suite. We are now forced to move to MS Teams as hipchat is going away. MS Teams does not have a native Linux client and MS does not have any future plans to develop one.

I am wondering if there are any solutions that I can sell to management besides running entire windows os in VMware?

9 comments

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mark_l_watson
This really doesn’t answer all your needs but the Microsoft Office 365 office and productivity apps are available as web apps, and work very well on Linux.
phakding
Agree. That's how we are using it. However teams webclient can't do some of the things like desktop sharing and conferences like we could do in hipchat.
doose_droppa
linux has a native desktop sharing, and if you secure things properly SShing to eachothers Boxes over an inhouse VPN.
arachno
Virtualbox can emulate a windows machine on top of Linux
doose_droppa
Libre Office.

it can work with MSO files, but has caveats regarding the nonstandard file specs. [docx. vs doc.] you can open and work with MSO nonspec files in libre office, but there is usually a note regarding format mangling due to a certain corporation breaking the file spec. Myself i have not had problems switching between the two ecosystems[MSO vs Libre] and the typical MS baggage is not attached to libre.

craftoman
I run everything on Linux using virtualbox, I don't recommend Wine though. All you need is a decent PC unless you're at school or something. The only problem you will face is USB support for some cases I don't think an average user can setup everything in a matter of minutes, you may need hours even days on researching but in the end you'll be rewarded.
lks128
I would consider using MS Teams web client to be a better option rather than running it in a virtual machine.