14 DAY TRIAL // Yesterday, we announced that CodeWeavers was making good on its promise of offering its whole software library for free, for one whole day. That day is here, and you can now grab your free copy of CrossOver Mac, CrossOver Games or CrossOver Linux. Existing CrossOver users also have it their way today.
“We are giving away all of our software for free on Tuesday, October 28th, 2008,” reads a post on the company's website. The CrossOver Serial Number Sign Up page reveals that “this is a fully working, fully supported copy of either CrossOver Mac Professional, or CrossOver Linux Professional. No hooks, tricks, timebombs, or gimmicks: it's the real deal.”
For those who haven't been reading the news lately, CodeWeavers launched the Great American Lame Duck Presidential Challenge in July, attempting to get President Bush to do some good deeds before stepping down. CodeWeavers said they'd offer all their software for free should Mr. Bush accomplish a major economic or political goal by January 20, 2009. Bush was supposed to make specific positive accomplishments in areas such as the economy, home values, the stock market, the war on terror and other key issues, but one goal in particular called for the President to help bring average gasoline prices in the Twin Cities to $2.79 a gallon. This happened on Monday, October 14.
To get your free software, you simply need to complete a small form (email address required) and to confirm it. An email will be sent to the email address you entered, containing a serial code. Once you receive your serial code, go to this page and register your software. As soon as you're done with these steps, you will be able to log into your account on CodeWeavers' website, and download your product of choice, the company says.
NOTE: Your serial code must be registered on CodeWeavers' website before 23:59 PM (Central Standard Time). After midnight (Tuesday), the code is no longer valid. The limit is 1 copy per customer and it's a download only. As an existing CodeWeavers customer, you also benefit from CodeWeavers' offer. You get a completely new support entitlement for another 12 months. As a user of CodeWeavers' Standard products, “Merry Christmas: you've just been upgraded to Pro. For Free,” says the company. No time to waste.
UPDATE 1: The CodeWeavers website is currently down (no surprise there), due to the high volume of traffic for the Lame Duck Challenge Free Offer. We'll update this piece again when (if?) the CodeWeavers site is back up, so you can register CrossOver. Hopefully, everyone gets to register their copy of CrossOver by the end of the day.
You can still download a trial version of CrossOver during this time, and unlock it to full version with your registered account when the main site comes back online. UPDATE 2: According to CodeWeavers, your serial code will actually be valid until 23:59 (Midnight) Wednesday October 29th Central Standard Time (CST). "You will be able to unlock your serial number that was emailed to you for an extended time, (an additional 48 hours), due to this downtime. We will simply stop giving out new serial numbers at 23:59 (Midnight) Central Standard Time," the company has stated.
UPDATE 3: CodeWeavers says it is "working on a different approach" to get the free software in your hands. The company is advising those who checked in to activate their keys to wait for 30 minutes and try again.
UPDATE 4: the makers of Crossover have updated their site with a new message saying "Please check back again for registration code information later today. We're working on getting a minimal functioning site."
UPDATE 5: CodeWeavers has set up a method to provide folks with their serial code. You will simply need to enter your e-mail address and (check this) "expect your serial number to be emailed to you in a few days."
Hopefully this is the last update we'll have to post on this matter.