Falling gas prices = free software

Keith Shaw — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 15:26:29 -0400

Sure, the economy may be in the toilet, but at least you can get some free software thanks to plummeting gasoline prices. In July, CodeWeavers launched its Great American Lame Duck Presidential Challenge, offering a free copy of its CrossOver software (lets Mac OS X and Linux users run Windows programs without needing a Windows OS license) to every American if President Bush could accomplish a major economic or political goal by Jan. 20, 2009. One of the goals was that if average gasoline process in the Twin Cities (Minneapolis / Saint Paul) fell to $2.79 or lower, the free software would be offered. What seemed like a humorous challenge / political statement has turned true, however. The global economic crisis has caused gas prices to fall, and on Oct. 14, the price goal was hit. "That morning, I was filling my tank at Big Steve's Gas Palace in St. Paul," said Jeremy White, president and CEO of CodeWeavers, in a press release today. "I had just finished my morning corn dog and 64-ounce Dr. Pepper when I looked at the pump and noticed gas was at $2.79. I screamed 'Woohoo,' then I yelled 'Oh, crap!' as I realized every American can now have my software for free. Kind of upsets my fourth quarter revenue projections..." If you would like to take advantage of the free software offer, head to the CodeWeavers Web site starting at 12 a.m. on Tuesday, Oct. 28, to get the code for one free copy of CrossOver. Now, only if we can get Nintendo to offer free Wii game consoles, we'll be all set. UPDATE: The company put out a press release today (Thursday, Oct. 30) about the results of the free software promotion:

CODEWEAVERS LAMEDUCK CHALLENGE SOFTWARE GIVEAWAY MASSIVE SUCCESS, ABRUPTLY SHUT DOWN Because Gas Prices Fall in Bush's Waning Days, CodeWeavers Gives Away 650,000 Copies of Software Valued at $45 Million CEO: "Perfect Internet Hellstorm" SAINT PAUL, Minn. (October 30, 2008) - Saint Paul software developers CodeWeavers, Inc., gave away 650,000 copies of its software Tuesday as it declared victory in its acclaimed Great American Lame Duck Presidential Challenge, in which it promised the giveaway if President Bush accomplished anything in his administration's waning days. With its servers melted and its business plan in limbo, CodeWeavers also is shutting the Challenge down. Post-giveaway, this guerilla marketing effort spearheaded by Minneapolis brand public relations firm Haberman and Associates yielded: -650,000 downloads valued at $45 million dollars - expanding CodeWeavers' existing customer base by 400 percent -Arguably more software downloads in 24 hours than any other company of this size in history -50,000 YouTube views in 24 hours of a video updating the public on the state of the phenomenon -Intense blog and Web activity on sites such as Digg.com, Twitter.com, Slashdot.com and others -25 terabytes of software uploaded In July, CodeWeavers – whose software lets Mac OS X and Linux users run Windows programs without having to pay a penny to Microsoft – launched the challenge (lameduck.codeweavers.com) to encourage Bush to make the most of the remaining days of his office by accomplishing a major economic or political goal by January 20, 2009. Goals focused on the economy, home values, the stock market, the War on Terror and other key issues. In particular, one challenge goal called for President Bush to help bring average gasoline prices in the Twin Cities to $2.79 a gallon. On Monday, Oct. 14, gas prices in Minneapolis and St. Paul did just that. "Okay, so it was the cratering global economy that caused oil prices to fall," said Jeremy White, chief executive officer of CodeWeavers. "But a goal met is a goal met, so we designated Oct. 28 as the day to give out the software, officially kicking off at 12:01 a.m. I can't thank our systems administrator, Jeremy Newman, enough for his incredible work keeping our server in tact throughout the first twelve hours of the maelstrom. We were expecting a busy day giving away - oh, I don't know - 10,000 copies, not 650,000." Soon thereafter, when individuals began uploading copies at 20 a second, White knew the giveaway was a success and an unmitigated disaster. "The server rack was leaking smoke, our system administrator took the bowl of Halloween candy next to the front door and devoured more than 50 Kit Kats before our eyes," White said. "I ran for our C.O.O. and V.P. of Sales to come and help calm him, but to my I horror I found them snorting a mound of Alka-Seltzer in the conference room. Less than 18 hours later we had given away 650,000 copies of software." The Great American Lame Duck Presidential Challenge's original rules called for more giveaways if President Bush met additional set goals by January 20, 2009. "Upon further reflection, though, we decided to discontinue the Challenge," White said. "We felt that we had done what we set out to do. We got noticed, we had a lot of fun with it and we made a lot of people happy - many more than we could have imagined. So, we feel like we've honored our commitments as far as honesty and generosity are concerned. That said, we need to get back to a for-profit business model again. And rapidly."

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Microsoft Fun and the 4th of July

Microsoft Subnet — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 18:38:42 -0400

Microsoft Subnet will out of the office for a nice relaxing four-day weekend in celebration of Independence Day. We'll be back in action blogging on all-things-Microsoft on Tuesday. In honor of the holiday (and a four-day weekend!) we have dug up some Microsoft-related 4th of July goodies to share with our readers.

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Visio users: free software for you, courtesy of Microsoft

Microsoft Subnet — Wed, 23 Jan 2008 19:23:47 -0500

Have you stumbled upon Microsoft's Visio Toolbox yet? Given the popularity of Visio among IT shops, this site almost certainly has some free stuff you are going to want to download. Here's a sampling of tools thanks to a comprehensive list compiled by the blog The Road to Know Where:

IconSet Builder provides a quick and easy way to create custom icon sets that you can use in the data graphics in your diagram.

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WildPackets offers free network analyzer

Keith Shaw — Mon, 19 Jun 2006 16:59:43 -0400

I love free stuff, so I can't wait to download the free OmniPeek Personal software from WildPackets. The software is "the first commercially developed Expert network analyzer available free for personal use," WildPackets says. Go here to download the software (Windows PC required).

Features of the software include wired and wireless analysis; real-time graphics and display; Visual Expert and Packet Visualizer toolsets; application analysis and Apdex scoring that reflects end-user satisfaction with applications, and support for custom plug-ins. WildPackets says users can troubleshoot network performance and security problems, view the "top talkers" on the network, change filters "on the fly" without having to stop and restart packet captures, and view packet-stream analytics by conversation pair to instantly locate network events, such as SQL queries or DoS attacks.

The software is a free version of the company's OmniPeek Analyzer, a portable network analyzer included in the OmniAnalysis Platform. The software features an open API and SDK that lets users extend functionality of the product through custom plug-ins. Examples of plug-ins available now include a Google Maps plug-in that shows a map displaying the location of an IP device being analyzed; and a SQLFilter plug-in that lets users submit SQL queries to locate key data in packet captures. Other plug-ins are available at the WildPackets Developer Network.

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