Wine has hard limits. Anything that needs a real Windows kernel — drivers, services, kernel anti-cheat — is out of reach for every translation layer, ours included. Here's the list and the honest workaround.
It would be really convenient to claim Bourbon runs everything. It doesn't, and the app says so in its own interface. Over half the entries in its curated catalog are marked not installable, each with a note explaining what they need instead.
Here's that list and the reasoning, so you can decide before spending money rather than after.
Heavy licensed CAD and engineering
SOLIDWORKS, Autodesk Revit, Autodesk AutoCAD, Altium Designer, 2020 Design Live.
These all share a profile that's hostile to translation. Account gated installer, a license check that wants to see real hardware, a GPU bound rendering pipeline, and a support contract that assumes Windows. Bourbon marks SOLIDWORKS as needing a Windows VM, GPU and licensing validation, and doesn't offer to install it.
Run these in Parallels with a real Windows license, or on an actual workstation.
GIS and data platforms
ArcGIS Pro, Power BI Desktop, SQL Server Management Studio.
ArcGIS Pro combines GPU requirements, a bundled Python environment, licensing and an extension system, which is four separate ways for a translation layer to fall over. Power BI needs WebView and .NET and validates monthly. SSMS drags in Visual Studio shell dependencies.
Accounting and practice software
QuickBooks Desktop, Quicken Classic, PCLaw.
Licensing, update flows, PDF generation and payroll modules all want real Windows. There's a second reason to be careful here that has nothing to do with technology: this is your financial data, and "mostly works" isn't a standard you should accept for your books.
Microsoft Office family
Access, Project, Visio.
Office Click to Run isn't a simple Wine install. Subscription licensing plus the Office dependency chain makes these manual targets at best. Worth noting that Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Outlook all have proper Mac versions, so use those. Access, Project and Visio are the three without a Mac build, which is exactly why they keep coming up.
Clinical and safety critical
RadiAnt DICOM Viewer.
Bourbon's own note is the right one here. Clinical use demands validation and it isn't presented as guaranteed. Don't make diagnostic decisions on software running through a translation layer nobody has validated for that purpose.
The pattern across all of these: license enforcement, GPU dependence, real Windows services, or consequences when it quietly misbehaves. Any one is a warning sign, two or more means a VM. Everything outside that list, which is most software and nearly all games, is Bourbon territory.
What that leaves
Plenty, actually. Games are the big one, since a game mostly wants a GPU and a graphics API and both of those translate well. So do self contained desktop utilities, and line of business clients that are really just forms over a network, like the AIL eAPP client.
The dividing line isn't big app versus small app. It's how much the software depends on being on real Windows rather than just on the Windows API.
Bottom line
Check your specific app before buying anything, ours included. If it's on the list above, budget for Parallels and a Windows license. That's the right tool and we'd rather you got it working than bought the wrong thing from us.
If it's a game or a self contained utility though, you're exactly in the territory Bourbon 26 was built for, and $29.99 will probably be the end of the problem.
Buy Bourbon 26, $29.99 Search the compatibility list