CrossOver, free today from CodeWeavers

Wine is software that allows Windows applications to run on Mac OS X and Linux without launching a full virtual machine (the approach taken by Parallels Desktop and VMWare Fusion for the Mac) or rebooting into Windows (the BootCamp approach). Normally I wouldn’t bother with it (I use VMWare Fusion on my Mac and when I use my Linux laptop I have access to nearly all of the software I need), but back in July CodeWeavers (makers of a commercial implementation of Wine called CrossOver) issued their “Great American Lame Duck Presidential Challenge” where they promised to make their software available free if one of a given set of conditions were met.  Well, it turns out that one condition was gas prices dropping below $2.79 in the Twin Cities.  Well, thanks to our great financial  meltdown they have, so it’s free software day today!

I grabbed a copy of CrossOver for Linux, since I’m fine with Fusion on my Mac.  Installation was smooth, and I had no trouble setting up the Windows application I most wanted access to under Linux (Evernote, for the curious).

So the economy may be melting down and your financial future in tatters, but at least you can get free software (today only)!