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In 2008 CodeWeavers Gave Away 650,000 Free Licenses in 24 Hours, This Year’s Special Includes Lame Duck Insurance Policy, Offering 2-for-1 Support.
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On the one-year anniversary of the software industry’s largest-ever one day giveaway a publicity stunt that nearly crippled his company Jeremy White, the deeply embittered CEO of CodeWeavers, announced ALL of his software will NOT be free tomorrow in celebration. This Year’s Special Includes Lame Duck Insurance Policy Offering 2-for-1 Support.
Last Year: A Mushroom Cloud of New Users
The time was July, 2008. The plan: as part of CodeWeavers' "Great American Lame Duck Challenge," if President Bush could accomplish one of five goals by his term’s end – including reducing the price of gas to below $3 / gallon – CodeWeavers would give away its CrossOver software to anyone who wanted it. CrossOver is a highly-celebrated open source software that enables individuals to run Windows applications without purchasing a Windows license from Microsoft. And then, in mid-October 2008, as the global financial meltdown unfolded and the Great Recession kicked into fifth gear, gas hit $2.79 in the Twin Cities, and CodeWeavers announced that the giveaway was on.
The result was an internet phenomenon. On October 28, 2008, nearly 650,000 people downloaded CrossOver. "Our servers melted, my sales director was sobbing uncontrollably and we basically burned to the waterline," White said. "We were suddenly the hottest commodity on the Web after porn." One year later, though, White says he’s seen the light. "My socialist phase has passed; I’m back to being a greedy capitalist. It’s time for somebody to bail me out!" Full Story |
