All 100 ideasDesktop and OS
#27 of 100 · Desktop and OS
Run any OS's apps anywhere
A packaged layer that runs Windows, macOS or Android apps and games on another OS without fuss, so ordinary users can switch.
Asks per year
What the askers want
- Would pay29%
- Want it local or private86%
- Object to subscriptions7%
- Want it open source or self-hosted7%
- Want AI to do it0%
Share of the 14 asks that say so, as judged by Jev.
What exists on Show HN
Built, still asked for10 Show HN launches do this job, and 1 more do part of it. People still ask, so the launches are missed, unknown, or not what they want. Ask what they’re missing before you build.
- Winpodx – run Windows apps on Linux as native windows2026 · 98 pts
- Microsoft Office running with Wine on Linux with no virtualization2026 · 97 pts
- I'm writing an alternative to Lutris2026 · 15 pts
- Run native windows software on any mobile without installing2015 · 4 pts
- MacMule – eMule packaged as a native macOS app via Wine2026 · 2 pts
- Utility for building self contained game AppImages running on Wine2025 · 2 pts
- WineBar: A yet another Wine prefix manager, with Asahi Linux support2025 · 2 pts
- A statically compiled 32-bit Wine because why not?2022 · 2 pts
Instead of: Wine, Proton, Anbox
The idea, as matched
A seamless compatibility layer for running another OS's apps natively, such as Windows apps and games on Linux or Mac, macOS apps on Linux, or Android apps on desktop, packaged for ordinary users.
Jev first matched 15 requests to this idea; a second reader kept 14 of 15.
Every ask, newest first
Each line is an AI paraphrase of what the writer wanted. The link goes to their own words on Hacker News.
Reader’s note. Adobe and Office on Linux recur.
- Mar 2025Wants Bottles-style Windows app support bundled into an invisible Linux distro for friends and family. Read it: a comment in “Convert Linux to Windows”
- Jan 2025Would pay for a Linux distro mimicking Windows that runs exes via Wine, others in a hidden VM. Read it: a comment in “Microsoft to force Windows 11 24H2 on Home and Pro users”
- Apr 2024Lists favorite utilities, mostly classic Windows tools like Everything, IrfanView and Winamp; no new tool requested. Read it: a comment in “IrfanView”
- Jul 2023Wants a working Android app-running solution for X.org, since the available one fails there. Read it: a comment in “Android Games on PC”
- Feb 2023Wants a lightweight, quick way of running Android apps on Debian, lighter than a full QEMU virtual machine. Read it: a comment in “A patch to enable Windows Subsystem for Android to run on Windows 10”
- Nov 2022Wants a Proton equivalent for macOS to run more Windows games. Read it: a comment in “Valve Introduces Proton Next”
- Mar 2021Wants a Proton-style effort to run Adobe software on Linux, their last tie to Windows or Mac. Read it: a comment in “Valve's Proton Has Enabled 7000 Windows Games on Linux”
- Nov 2020Wants a Windows version of Anbox for running Android apps. Read it: a comment in “Librem 5 Mass Production Phone Has Begun Shipping”
- Dec 2018Would pay for Windows compatibility as an official Wine-like layer installable atop an ordinary Linux distribution. Read it: a comment in “Windows Server 2019 Includes OpenSSH”
- Apr 2017Asks for a Mac OS X alternative to Anbox for running Android. Read it: a comment in “Anbox – Android in a Box”
- Feb 2016Wants a reverse Wine to run the clean, ad-free Linux Skype client on Windows. Read it: a comment in “Dear Skype/Microsoft: Problems with Linux client”
- Apr 2014Would pay for a container running complex Windows apps like Lightroom and Vegas on Linux where Wine fails. Read it: a comment in “Windows 7 outgains Windows 8 in market share again, Windows XP still above 27%”
- Feb 2014Would pay a few dollars for current Microsoft Office packaged for Linux in step with Wine releases. Read it: a comment in “Wine 1.7.12 Released”
- Jan 2013Wishes Rosetta could be restored on Mac OS 10.7 for running old apps. Read it: a comment in “Adobe almost does something amazing by accident”
Building this?
Read ten of the asks above first, because they say what the existing launches miss. If you ship it, post it as a Show HN so the next run of this list finds it.
Ship it like Vercel, on a server you own
This site runs on ShipTiffin. A push to GitHub deploys it, the way it would on Vercel, but the server is a Hetzner box in your own account. Postgres, sign-in, email, jobs and analytics are already on it, every project gets a hard limit, and nothing is billed by usage.
$19 a month per box, plus about $10 for the server at Hetzner. Open source, so you can also run it yourself for free.