SAINT PAUL, Minn (August 29, 2012) — CodeWeavers, Inc., a developer of software product that lets Mac OS and Linux users run Windows programs, announced today that it will make its product free - to everyone on earth with a computer - if 100,000 Americans pledge to vote in the upcoming presidential election.
CodeWeavers’ “Return of The Quack: Flock the Vote!” launches today and will make CodeWeavers software downloadable for free for 24 hours if 100,000 Americans pledge to vote in the 2012 Presidential election at www.CodeWeavers.com/flockthevote.
“Why pull another ridiculous stunt like this?” said Jeremy White, president of CodeWeavers. “I want citizens to get involved in righting the troubling state of affairs that we’re all complaining about in this country. I don’t care who you vote for, just vote!”
White also cited relentless harassment from his marketing department as another reason for launching the giveaway. “After months of browbeating from those guys to ‘stop being a coward,’ and ‘let’s prove we’re the nicest software company on earth,’ I’ve surrendered,” said White. “Fine. Whatever. But whenever this goes live, I’ll be in Wisconsin, finding my chi at an exclusive wine and meditation compound. This time around, it’s my employees’ mess to handle.”
The potential “mess” to which White alludes is a crisis the company narrowly survived in 2008 when it launched a similar software promotion, “The CodeWeavers Lame Duck Presidential Challenge”. On October 28th of that year, gas dropped below $2.80 per gallon, thereby triggering one of the five goals CodeWeavers presented earlier in the year to then outgoing president George W. Bush. The promotion culminated in a mind-blowing 650,000 online registrations to receive a free-license for its flagship product CrossOver. One million people visited the company website in the following month.
The firm’s servers melted under the intense in-bound web traffic, and fear of eroded sales haunted the company from top to bottom. Oh, and their IT guy was really pissed. After the dust had settled, though, CodeWeavers survived, enjoying a healthy uptick in brand awareness, and eventually sales. “Will we survive this time?” said White. “No idea. Not my problem. If we go down early, don’t bother calling me with an update. I’ll be tossing my cell phone in the St. Croix River as I cross the border from Minnesota into the land of wine and cheese.”
How CodeWeavers’ Return of the Quack: Flock the Vote Works
Simply visit www.codeweavers.com/flockthevote, enter your email address and pledge to vote in the presidential election. When the threshold of 100,000 pledges has been reached, CodeWeavers will send you an email letting you know that you (and everyone else on earth) have 24 hours to download your free software. That’s it, no muss, no fuss and no marketing spam.
Stay tuned - throughout the election season, CodeWeavers plans to launch a number of fun, online election-themed games and promotions in support of Flock the Vote - rewards included.
About CodeWeavers
Founded in 1996 as a general software consultancy, CodeWeavers focuses on the development of Wine –the core technology found in all of its CrossOver products. The company’s goal is to bring expanded market opportunities for Windows software developers by making it easier, faster and more painless to port Windows software to Linux. CodeWeavers is recognized as a leader in open-source Windows porting technology, and maintains development offices in Minnesota, the United Kingdom and elsewhere around the world. The company is privately held. For more information about CodeWeavers, log on to www.codeweavers.com.
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Contact:
Anna Kruchowski, Haberman, 612-372-6459,
