CodeWeavers, the software vendor whose product line allows users to run Microsoft applications on Linux and Mac operating systems, has announced the one-day Lame Duck Anniversary Sale. In honor of the one-year anniversary of last year's popular free giveaway, new customers and returning customers half off everything in its store, including product renewals.

Billed as a "24-hour non-giveaway," customer have until midnight CST tonight, to make a purchase at a 50% discount. Any purchases made today will also include the upcoming release of CrossOver (code-named "Snow Mallard"), along with 2-for-1 support days until its release. "That is, if you purchase today, and we ship Snow Mallard a month from now, we'll retroactively add two months of support to your account when Snow Mallard comes out, and you'll get it for free," the CodeWeavers team announced in an email to customers. As an additional incentive to buy today, 25 random customers will receive lifetime support contracts as well.

In typical hilarious fashion, CodeWeavers CEO Jeremy White issued a press release outlining his reasons for not giving away his products for free again this year. His tongue-in-cheek explanation is that the 650,000 licenses he gave away last year nearly sent the company into a financial tailspin and left his sales director a shattered mess. "My socialist phase has passed," says White. "I’m back to being a greedy capitalist."

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You might recall that several weeks ago Jeremy White, president and CEO of CodeWeavers, promised to had out free licenses for the popular commercial version of Wine if at least one of a handful of (seemingly) unlikely economic goals CodeWeavers set were met before President George. W. Bush left the White House.

Surprisingly, one of those goals has been met. Gas prices have dropped below $2.79 a gallon in the Twin Cities and that means free software for everyone tomorrow at CodeWeavers.