WineBottler for Mac 1.6-rc5

One of the biggest limitations of Mac computers is that they can’t run Windows applications. That’s because OS X is a completely different operating system that requires software to be built specifically for it. However, WineBottler for Mac promises to solve this problem. It works on Snow Leopard, Lion, and Mountain Lion.

During installation, it quickly becomes clear that WineBottler is mostly aimed at technical users — to get it working, you also need to visit this website to install XQuartz. The interface consists of the menu items “Download”, “On My Mac” and “Advanced”. Although you can theoretically install any Windows program, WineBottler lets you quickly and easily grab a set of automated installers from the Download tab. It actually feels a bit like an app store, similar to what you know from iPhone or Android.

While installing Internet Explorer, we kept getting an error message, but we got Windows Media Player and MS Paint working without any problems — unfortunately, both were far from the latest versions, so the programs weren’t particularly useful. If you want to manage or delete your WineBottler apps, you should be able to do it directly from the program, but that didn’t work either.

WineBottler would have huge potential if many of its bugs and shortcomings were fixed. Right now, though, it’s mostly a tool for power users that only more technical users will benefit from.

Tired of your Mac not being able to run all those great Windows programs? The free WineBottler tool promises to fix the problem!