Pastures new for Linux apps

Lina aims to increase adoption of open-source software with Linux applications tools

US firm Lina is aiming to broaden adoption of open-source software by enabling applications to run on multiple platforms through a virtualisation layer.

Lina software, due to ship at the end of June, will enable Linux applications to run on Unix, Windows and Mac OS X systems with the look and feel of a native application on each platform.

Tens of thousands of free Linux applications are available, many without Windows or Mac equivalents, and many are not even guaranteed to work on all flavours of Linux, Lina said.

Linux applications compiled for Lina are integrated with the user’s operating system, but each runs in a separate instance of Lina, according to the firm.