Google and CodeWeavers have released the first Google program, the popular beginner-level photography program, Picasa, for Linux.
Although the Linux Picasa implementation includes most of the feature set of the Windows Picasa 2.x software. It is not, strictly speaking, a port of Picasa to Linux.
Instead, Linux Picasa combines Windows Picasa code and Wine technology to run Picasa on Linux.
Wine is an open-source implementation of the Windows API (application programming interface). It runs, in turn, on top of the X Window System and Linux.
Wine is not, as has sometimes been said, a Windows emulator. Wine provides a Windows API middleware layer that enables Windows programs, such as Office 2003, to run on Linux without the slowing effects of operating system emulation or a virtual machine.
The new program has been re-tooled to work well with CodeWeaverss CrossOver Office Wine emulation. Thus, Linux Picasa uses the programs own native Windows DLLs (dynamic link libraries).
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