CodeWeavers Announces Flock the Vote Software Giveaway

ywlke writes "This election year, CodeWeavers is repeating its 'Great American Lame Duck Presidential Challenge' from 2008, and will be giving away free one-year subscriptions to Crossover Linux and Mac. 'On Wednesday, Oct. 31, 2012, beginning at 00:00 Central Time (+6 GMT), anyone visiting CodeWeavers’ Flock The Vote promotional web site (flock.codeweavers.com) will be able to download a free, fully functional copy of either CrossOver Mac or CrossOver Linux. Each copy comes complete with 12 months of support and product upgrades. The offer will continue for 24 hours, from 00:00 to 23:59, Oct. 31, 2012. ... The company had recently launched its 'Flock the Vote' challenge – a voter turnout initiative in which CodeWeavers promised free software for 24 hours if 100,000 people pledged to vote in the 2012 Presidential election.'"

Comments

So we have to choose?

[Anonymous Coward]

anyone visiting CodeWeavers’ Flock The Vote promotional web site (flock.codeweavers.com) will be able to download a free, fully functional copy of either CrossOver Mac or CrossOver Linux.

Which is the Obama version and which is the Romney version?

Re:So we have to choose?

[Anonymous Coward]

There isn't one, you get either. Although really, they're both Obama versions as Romney would probably force you to use Windows and suck it up as Linux and OSX are clearly socialist OSes.

Re:So we have to choose?

[spectrokid]

Something tells me you won't be able to see the difference...

Re:So we have to choose?

[Noughmad]

Yes, an OS that can only be used with overpriced hardware, made by the largest company in the world, is clearly socialist.

Re:So we have to choose?

[sumdumass]

Why would you think that? Rush Limbaugh swears by Apple/MAC products and spends a great deal of time promoting them whenever something new is being released. There are certainly paid versions of Linux and companies offering paid support for them. If by socialist you mean free market, you might be right, but i think you have came to the wrong conclusion on the political aspects of it.

Re:So we have to choose?

[gmhowell]

Yes, an OS that can only be used with overpriced hardware, made by the largest company in the world, is clearly socialist.

Limousine liberals are not a new invention.

Re:So we have to choose?

[JackieBrown]

Why would you think that? Rush Limbaugh swears by Apple/MAC products and spends a great deal of time promoting them whenever something new is being released.

In fact, he praises their products for free since they won't pay him to due to political differences (I wouldn't pay him, either, since he is already doing it for free.)

Not only does he praise Apple/MAC, he is pretty critical of Windows.

Re:So we have to choose?

[Dishevel]

Romney version is not out yet.
Obama is the Windows version. Closed and broken.
We need a Linux government. Inexpensive, flexible and open.

Re:So we have to choose?

[Daniel Dvorkin]

Yes, an OS that can only be used with overpriced hardware, made by the largest company in the world, is clearly socialist.

For any Republican who dislikes Macs, OS X is clearly socialist, because "socialism" is defined in Republicanese (a language which closely resembles English, and shares most of its syntax, but has a somewhat divergent vocabulary with lots of false cognates) as "anything a Republican doesn't like." For any Republican who likes Macs, OTOH, OS X is a triumph of the invisible hand of the free market, while Windows is pretty much the second coming of Joe Stalin. Linux is always Ron Paul.

Hope this clears things up.

Re:So we have to choose?

[Zargle]

only available for Mac and Linux?? why no Windows version? this, my friends is an outrage!

uses?

[ThorGod]

What are the current uses for codeweavers? Just games, right?

Re:uses?

[Gaygirlie]

Games and all kinds of regular applications. CrossOver supports a large amount of software and there is a one-click installation mode for many of the more popular apps. Basically, if you want Wine but with paid-for support and easier installation CrossOver will probably suit you.

Re:uses?

[Anonymous Coward]

There's only one edition now, so you can run any supported software on it.

Re:uses?

[Anonymous Coward]

There are both Linux and Mac versions of Crossover, which runs thousands of applications, including games, MS Office, and many other things. Here's the compatibility list. Check the WineHQ AppDB too if you don't see it listed. Codeweavers contributes heavily to Wine, too, and the projects are closely related. They're not just a paid fork of Wine like Cedega was.

Wine (and Crossover) have really progressed far since they started. I play games as well as run more serious applications, and I haven't booted up my Windows partition in months. I haven't had the need. This giveaway comes with a year of support, too, which is very nice.

Re:uses?

[voxner]

Running Microsoft Office in Linux. I had a good experience with codeweaver for linux. I haven't tried wine yet...

Re:uses?

[Anonymous Coward]

Sweet. But does it really do nothing more than Wine without paid-for support and easier installation?

Re:uses?

[MickyTheIdiot]

I actually use PlayOnLinux, and even without Crossover there are a huge number of apps that work just fine now using wine. The simpler the app the more likely it will work.

I installed the Kindle PC app over the weekend and it works perfectly.

Re:uses?

[jeremy_white]

Yes, Wine really is coming along nicely. It's been a very long hard fight, but an amazing range of things work, and it's just going to keep getting better.

Note that Wine has a sponsor - CodeWeavers - and we have collectively dumped at least $20 Million on Wine through the years. Wine is hard.

We do all of that that $59.95 at a time, with the support of people who understand what we do and who choose to support us. I think this is amazing and powerful and wonderful, and I am deeply grateful to everyone who does support us.

I just wish more people knew the details and understood why PlayOnLinux and stock Wine work so well these days. My ducky demise will not be in vain if just one more person discovers CrossOver goodness :-).

Cheers,
Jeremy

Re:uses?

[TheGoodNamesWereGone]

Wine can be a bear unless you really know what you're doing. I've never used Crossover, so I can't speak for that. It sounds like it's pretty good, but I balk at the price ($59.95). I'll try to grab the free version tomorrow.

Re:uses?

[Laebshade]

CrossOver does more than be Wine with "paid-for support and easier installation". It installs additional libraries, fonts, etc., required for the app/game to work -- winetricks also does this, but on a much less polished and broad scale. It can create separate 'bottles' (self-contained wine installations); you can install just the one app, or multiple apps per bottle, and the shortcuts that launch the game/app are configured to use the appropriate bottle automatically without manual changing to that bottle required.

That said, I use wine to run WoW, but may give CrossOver a shot, especially if I can get the Curse client working under it.

Re:uses?

[Gaygirlie]

It installs additional libraries, fonts, etc., required for the app/game to work

So, in other words it does exactly what I said it does: offers a much easier installation.

Re:uses?

[silviuc]

So you are getting a piece of software, with 12 months of free support for 0 mullah and wonder "what's the use?" ?! Download it and see what it can do you tool.

Re:uses?

[hodet]

I am definitely going to try Crossover tomorrow on my Linux Laptop. For the life of me I have not been able to connect my Slingbox to the Windows client under Wine. I have found some people who got it to work and have tried their instructions to no avail. Have also seen many people with the same issues as me that never did figure it out. If I can get it going with Crossover I will happily pay the $60.

Re:uses?

[ThorGod]

In linux...does it help connect with printers at all? I remember having to print to pdf and then running to a campus computer to print stuff for class...

Anyone != Nobody

[war4peace]

Not being from the US, and the quote saying "anyone who visits...", what if I'm not eligible for a download? Guess that would make me "nobody", right? RIGHT?

Re:Anyone != Nobody

[dougisfunny]

Are you in orbit? The site says:
"Who: FREE to anyone on the planet"

Re:Anyone != Nobody

[jhoegl]

Yet another example of the USA giving back to everyone else.
Before "WHOOSH", please see sarcasm.

Re:Anyone != Nobody

[martin-boundary]

Hold on! When the Earth gets downgraded to dwarf planet status, will we have to give the software back or what?

Re:Anyone != Nobody

[dotancohen]

Hold on! When the Earth gets downgraded to dwarf planet status, will we have to give the software back or what?

The Earth's peril will not be dwarf planet status, but rather binary planet status. The moon is in constant concave orbit around the sun. Asimov makes a rather convincing argument that this should be the criteria for binary planet status.

Re:Anyone != Nobody

[sumdumass]

It could make you "someone who didn't visit".

As others pointed out. It's not restricted to just US citizens. It's for everyone who visits the site within the time frame including existing customers. If you already have a contract for support with them (purchased a produce less then a year ago or purchased support) they will add 12 months to the commitment per their faq/details page.

Re:Anyone != Nobody

[war4peace]

Gee, that was a joke, but hey... you can't train humor if you don't have it :)

Re:Anyone != Nobody

[war4peace]

It was a JOKE. Jay-oh-kay-ee!

Re:Anyone != Nobody

[sumdumass]

Umm.. What is so humorous about a train ride?

Yeah, I figured as much but this is /. after all. Anyways, the biggest thing I wanted to point out was that even existing customers can benefit from this.

Re:Anyone != Nobody

[war4peace]

Well, I was a *possible* customer but resisted buying it because I rarely use Linux and the price-to-usage ratio was too high. But now with my Linux usage growing constantly, I think it's a good idea to get CrossOver and see how good it is. It was convincing a few years ago, and it's even more convincing now.

Who knows, maybe in time I'll become an advocate and even completely switch to Linux if CrossOver supports most of the apps that I use (mostly games, TBH, but MS Office is a BIG part of what I do). 12 months of free usage is exactly what I need to renew my subscription.

Re:FUCK THE VOTE !! ANARCHY IN THE UK !!

[Gaygirlie]

Die young !!

Too late for that!

Stay pretty !!

Never was that to begin with!

Re:No such time zone

[amorsen]

It's UTC-0600 or GMT-0600 if you don't believe in leap-seconds.

Only if you suffer from POSIXitis and think plus is minus and minus is plus. Plusungood.

As stupid as Rock the Vote

[BitZtream]

We DO NOT NEED more IDIOTS voting just because someone told them they should vote.

We need more people making intelligent decisions about who they vote for. We need less people voting for their team/mascot/color. If you check the 'republican' or 'democrat' checkbox when you vote, you are the worst kind of citizen, more so than one who doesn't vote. There is absolutely no possible way that you agree with every single member of one party.

You should ONLY VOTE FOR PEOPLE WHO UNDERSTAND. You should not be voting based on what CNN or Fox news told you. You should not be voting based on what your friends are voting for. You should not be voting without knowing the people you are voting for.

If you think the president is the most important person to vote for, PLEASE DON'T VOTE, you don't know how the government works.

I don't want more people voting. I want more people knowing who the fuck they are voting for! I don't care who you vote for as long as you actually know what they stand for and what they will do. Look at the history of the people you vote for. If you don't know someones history DON'T VOTE FOR THEM.

No TV commercial or radio spot has told you the truth. They may not flat out lie, but they most certainly withhold the full information in order to make their guy seem like he/she is better than they actually are.

Please don't vote just because MTV or CodeWeavers told you to, thats how we got to this point in the first freaking place.

Re:As stupid as Rock the Vote

[demonlapin]

If you think the president is the most important person to vote for, PLEASE DON'T VOTE, you don't know how the government works.

While there is merit in this, he's the guy who appoints the Supreme Court. That matters.

I've voted for a lot of people that I disagreed with - hell, I do it at every election, because I live in the South, and every single politician, R or D, is pro-life here because otherwise they won't get elected. I don't have to think they're perfect. They never will be perfect. They just have to be more likely to represent my wishes than their opponent. Sometimes that means I end up voting for someone about whom I have severe misgivings. You think Hillary supporters were thrilled to vote for Obama? I know a few. They couldn't stand the guy, but they knew the alternative was McCain, so they pulled the lever for O. Same game plays out on the R side of the aisle.

Re:As stupid as Rock the Vote

[MickyTheIdiot]

Everyone has the right to vote, even if they are idiots and don't agree with me. If you can only win by keeping people at home then your strategy is flawed.

Re:As stupid as Rock the Vote

[DarkOx]

I agree everyone has a right to vote but I also agree with the grand parent that general "hey lets push voter turn out no matter" initiatives and attitudes are counter productive.

Then there is the "its your civic duty" line. I don't see how going to the polls and making a mark next to names of people you don't know who are, is of any use to society. If people are not going to take the time be informed about the issues or the candidates positions you are not adding anything but noise.

Its like all the flap about early voting. I live in Ohio, so both campaigns were trying to make the rules to benefit them. Obummer prevailed for the most part. We had early voting start days BEFORE the first presidential debate and weeks before the first debates in down ballot races. How can you possibly cast an informed ballot before the first debate?

I know its hardship for some get the polls on the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November. Seriously though who can't manage to cast vote by mail ballot and have it post marked within a 14 day window before the election? Nobody should be incapable of managing that.

I also think ballots ought to have some test questions; that insure the voter understands the use of the ballot and that it actually represents their views. Questions like:
"In the lower 48 states, its lighter out during the: A) Day, B) Night"

"Select Choice B:, A) A B)B C)C".

Again questions not designed to test knowledge in general just knowledge of the operation of the ballot itself.

Re:As stupid as Rock the Vote

[h4rr4r]

What if I disagree with you?
What if I value the freedoms of others over my right to force my desires on them?

Re:As stupid as Rock the Vote

[ByteSlicer]

We need more people making intelligent decisions about who they vote for.

Kodos: It's true, we are aliens. But what are you going to do about it? It's a two-party system. You have to vote for one of us.
Man 1: He's right, this is a two-party system.
Man 2: Well I believe I'll vote for a third-party candidate.
Kang: Go ahead, throw your vote away.

[The Simpsons: Treehouse of Horror VII]

Re:As stupid as Rock the Vote

[angst_ridden_hipster]

How can you possibly cast an informed ballot before the first debate?

You don't serious think that the "debates" are actually debates, do you? If that's where you got your information about the candidates, you're going to be just as ignorant as the people basing their votes on TV News and other scripted sound bites.

Your only reasonable way of assessing a candidate is to look at a) voting records and/or legislation sponsorships as applicable, b) primary campaign funding sources, and c) all the other spin. This gives you some insight into what (if anything) they've done, who they're beholden to, and, lastly, what they want you to think they represent.

Re:As stupid as Rock the Vote

[cellocgw]

We had early voting start days BEFORE the first presidential debate and weeks before the first debates in down ballot races. How can you possibly cast an informed ballot before the first debate?

SRSLY? The so-called debates are totally useless. If you hadn't figured out over a year ago what the (huge, dramatic) differences are between Mittens and ObamaCare, you really are too lazy to vote. If you think the debates matter, you're too stupid to vote.

Re:As stupid as Rock the Vote

[bzipitidoo]

You don't understand swarm intelligence. You can make a good decision with extremely little information. Nothing wrong with deciding before the 1st debate. And, I have plenty of information, from past experience. Parties do have brands, platforms, and planks. They don't completely change every election. In 2000, I was asking myself if it mattered that W. wasn't too smart, because he was wise enough to surround himself with what seemed a savvy and competent team. At that time, Cheney was an unknown to me. But by 2003, I decided that Republicans were unworthy to hold office because they embraced stupidity as a virtue. Until that changes, and I see no evidence that it has, no one should vote for them. I'm not real keen on the Democrats-- neither major party has done enough to clean up Wall Street. We have problems with corrupt crony capitalism. But the Republicans have descended into dangerously delusional "anti thinking". Who knows what fake problem they'll blow the treasury on next, should they gain control again? It might well be another military adventure, this time into Iran, over nuclear weapons. Whatever it is, it will be a heck of a distraction. Let those Wall Street crooks steal everything and run the economy into the dirt again, we've got bigger things to worry about!

Republicans sent us charging into Iraq, at great expense, over Weapons of Mass Destruction that turned out not to be. Now the best they have to offer on that point is a conspiracy theory idea that the WMDs must have been smuggled out to Syria. Yeah, right. Can't we find out for sure? Of course we can. Not that it matters. No matter how hard we look, some will always say we just didn't look hard enough. More than that, going to war was an incredibly stupid idea regardless. We were at war in Afghanistan. Just from a purely practical angle, you don't start another war when you are already in one. Then, it cost us trillions of dollars. It didn't really solve anything. Yet today, the neocons aren't completely disgraced, and still have some ears. I have no faith whatsoever in the Republican's much vaunted fiscal prudence after that disastrous waste of money known as the War of Choice.

But that's not the worst of it. I have not forgotten or forgiven the Republicans for denying that we have a global climate issue, or for interfering with stem cell research, or going all moralistic over someone like Terri Schiavo, as if her family had inferior morals and couldn't be trusted to explore every option and decide what was best. Demeaning and insulting. It's the same story with the abortion issue. Then there's the bungled response to Hurricane Katrina. And, have you heard about that lying idiot George Deutsch, who received an appointment in the Bush administration and used it to suppress climate research and at the same time inject a bit of Creationist dogma into scientific papers? Now the party has officially admitted that the climate issue is real, and that we are causing it. However, many of their supporters and members have ignored that shift, and are still vehemently denying it, using the most pathetically contrived, transparently bad reasoning to support their position. Drill, baby, drill! They don't even have a reason why any other course of action would supposedly wreck the economy. They just accept that proposition unthinkingly. Some even went so far as to say that we should show some contrition for being so mean to poor British Petroleum over that oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. Stuff happens, y'know?

But climate denial is only one symptom of the root problem: Most Republicans have no understanding of or respect for basic facts and logic. As I said, they've embraced stupidity. For that very good reason, 9 out of 10 scientists are opposed to Republicans. That ought to be reason enough for anyone to vote against the Republicans. But it isn't. To these people, scientists are just another partisan group, same as police officers, steel workers, farmers, or small business owners. Scient

Re:As stupid as Rock the Vote

[CODiNE]

I think many people assume their views are the majority and simply under-represented. I've had people drastically misjudge my leanings based on clothing, temperament and religious beliefs.

They think if someone is nice and sensible they must agree on certain worldview assumptions and are shocked to find out otherwise.

Re:No such time zone

[gavron]

0600z

0600UTC

0000 (UTC-0600)

0000 (GMT-0600 give or take sixteen seconds)

But not "+6" or anything crazy like that :)

E

Re:Free

[MickyTheIdiot]

Enjoy your visit with the secret service.

Cheating?

[Hentes]

Not sure how it works in America, but isn't asking people to vote in exchange of products is a form of cheating on election?

Re:Cheating?

[Fnord666]

Not sure how it works in America, but isn't asking people to vote in exchange of products is a form of cheating on election?

Asking people to vote a certain way in exchange for something is quite illegal. Simply asking them to promise that they will vote not so much.

Re:Cheating?

[neminem]

I don't think they -are- technically requiring you to pledge that you will vote for one of the two parties, just by pledging that you'll vote? A vote for a third-party candidate is (sadly) basically a vote to state that you don't like either of the candidates, but nothing else... but it is still a vote. I'm pretty sure I'm responding to a troll, though, given that -loads- of places, all over, are bothering me to vote, I'm getting flooded with people bugging me to vote (I'm already registered), and on top of that, it appears to be free to everyone at this point whether they say they'll vote or not.

Also just because both parties espouse some policies I don't like, just because two parties is not nearly enough gradation to accurately reflect every citizen's views, just because both parties spend a jillion dollars campaigning, that doesn't really mean the two parties are identical on every issue, because they sure frelling aren't. Don't vote if you hate them both, but I sure as frack will continue to vote for the lesser of two evils. :p

Re:Cheating?

[geminidomino]

As I understand it, the original promotion was that IF 100k people pledged to vote, THEN everyone could get a free copy. Not that you only get a copy if you vote.

Of course, the "press release" on the site reads like something off The Onion, so YMMV.

Re:Cheating?

[cellocgw]

Asking people to vote a certain way in exchange for something is quite illegal. Simply asking them to promise that they will vote not so much.

Well, maybe or maybe not. Someone stopped the local chapter of Sweet Old Ladies from providing baked goods at the polling places. Apparently accepting a chocolate chip cookie *after* voting was an illegal inducement.

Thanks Codeweavers!

[shakezula]

I say this is great! As a current paying user of Crossover Linux and Mac, I'll be happy to have a year's extension for free. Crazy that my Lame Duck version of Crossover 7 Linux is now nearly 8 years old--its still in use on a couple older kiosk-style Linux PCs at work in our breakroom to run Word for the interns to make resumes on. I primarily use Office on my Linux version, and my wife plays "Hidden Object Games" in our Mac version!

Re:No such time zone

[harrumph]

Umm, except that it says “Central Time”, and assuming this means U.S. Central Time (CT) that’s UTC–5—not UTC–6, GMT+6, or anything else—all day on the day(s) in question and most of the year. Central Time is UTC–5 (Central Daylight-saving Time, CDT) until 20121104T0700 UTC when it becomes UTC–6 (Central Standard Time, CST).

Why all the fuss?

[secretagentmoof]

The manpage clearly states that flock() is only advisory.

It's live now:

[grungy]

It's live now: flock.codeweavers.com