Whiskya well-liked open-source front-end for Wine that made Home windows gaming on Mac extra accessible, has ceased growth. The mission’s 18-year-old creator, Isaac Marovitz, introduced the shutdown and inspired customers to modify to the paid CrossOver app as a substitute.
In providing the explanations for his choice, Marovitz expressed concern that Whisky was doubtlessly harming the Wine ecosystem by competing with CrossOvera business product from CodeWeavers that helps fund Wine growth.
“Whisky, for my part, has not been a constructive on the Wine group as a complete,” he wrote on the mission’s web site. He stated that Whisky contributed “virtually zero” to Wine growth whereas doubtlessly threatening CrossOver’s monetary viability.
Marovitz can also be a full-time pupil at the moment attending Northeastern College, and so he has needed to stability the rising calls for of the mission together with his tutorial tasks. “I misplaced curiosity within the mission,” he admitted. “And as I am nonetheless a pupil and likewise not being paid for work on Whisky, it turns into onerous to justify engaged on it if I not take pleasure in it.” He stated that occasional updates to Whisky should still come if macOS “basically breaks the principle app,” which occurred with macOS Sequoia 15.4.
Writing on the Codeweavers weblogCEO James B. Ramey stated in response that he appreciated Marovitz’s work. “We ‘tip our cap’ to Isaac and the affect he made to macOS gaming,” Ramey wrote, acknowledging that Whisky, like CrossOver, was “a labor of affection constructed by individuals who care deeply about giving customers extra selections.”
Throughout its run, Whisky gained reputation for its user-friendly interface that simplified working Home windows video games on macOS. The mission highlighted the potential of Apple’s personal Recreation Porting Toolkit, which relies on the identical Wine expertise that powered each Whisky and CrossOver.
Regardless of stepping away from Whisky, Marovitz informed Ars Technica he is not completed with Mac gaming: “Proper now I am engaged on the recompilation of Sonic Unleashed and bringing it absolutely to Mac.”
