If you’re wondering why CodeWeavers’ website has no details of the free software I wrote about, the site will be updated later this morning. Basically, CodeWeavers is a small company that makes a handful of products for a niche audience. Giving it all away will surely affect the bottom line, so the company understandably is trying to minimize the impact of its promotional gimmick — the Great American Lame Duck Presidential Challenge — by limiting the exposure of the giveaway. (My article seriously undermined that effort.)

Some other questions that have come up:

What does CodeWeavers’ software do?
First, if you have a PC running Windows, as most people do, the software is of no use to you. But if you use a Mac or a Linux system, CodeWeavers’ products will let you run Windows applications, including games, using those operating systems. You can learn more about how it does that here.

OK, but is it any good?
As a longtime PC user, I have never used CodeWeavers’ products. Reviews are generally favorable online (do a Google search), but some are mixed, such as these comments at Amazon. Basically, it seems to come down to whether the programs you want to use are supported. For free, it’s fairly painless to try it out.

Isn’t this just a promotional gimmick?
Of course it is. While CodeWeavers is giving away its core product for a day, it also is getting a lot of publicity and exposure for the professional proprietary services it offers to corporations. But if you look at the list of rules in the Lame Duck Presidential Challenge, it clearly didn’t make the terms easy. And it is living up to its promise by making the free stuff available.

When will it be given away?
As I noted in my write-up, the giveaway happens on Tuesday. Some people haven’t seemed to grasp this fact. The deal is supposed to start at midnight (Central time) and run for 24 hours.

Finally, you have to love the cheeky attitude and promotional chutzpah of CodeWeavers CEO Jeremy White: “I launched the campaign to inspire President Bush to make the most of his final days in office. Who knew that our Challenge would have this kind of impact on the country?” he said. “On the other hand, who knew that the economy would implode, causing oil demand to drop into the abyss and gas prices to plummet as well. Clearly, investigating Bear Stearns, AIG and those guys is misplaced – CodeWeavers is responsible for this mess. So it’s free software for all!”

This entry was posted on Monday, October 27th, 2008 at 8:01 am and is filed under Internet, Techno chatter. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.