Giveaway of the Day

December 22, 2006 5:03 AM

Giveaway of the Day. One free complete commercial software package with free registration per day. Today it is Web Stream Recorder Pro.
posted by srboisvert (20 comments total)

Windows 2000/XP/2003/Vista

Aw, shucks.
posted by R. Mutt at 5:24 AM on December 22, 2006

Anything here for Mac users, sir? Anything at all?

*shivers in the Dickensian cold... tries to sell some matches...*
posted by flapjax at midnite at 5:44 AM on December 22, 2006

There's an interesting condition on "free registration" on that site: you can only register it that day. Download the software today, go to install it tomorrow? No go.

Obviously it's to get around having the registration info copied to every warez site on the interweb, but it still means that you can't just sit on the software until you need it.

There's also a game giveaway of the day. It still seems to be offering things no-one's ever heard of, like GOTD was until a few days ago.
posted by mendel at 5:48 AM on December 22, 2006

Giving away Windows programs is like handing out used sharps at a party.
posted by AmberV at 5:54 AM on December 22, 2006

May I introduce you to Mac App a Day, which is only extant in December?
posted by Hildegarde at 6:00 AM on December 22, 2006

May I introduce you to Mac App a Day?

Thank you, Hildegarde, sir or madam, thank you. And Merry Christmas!

*momentarily warmed by the glow of human kindness*
posted by flapjax at midnite at 6:11 AM on December 22, 2006

Wow! The Mac crowd sure derailed that fast.
posted by srboisvert at 6:24 AM on December 22, 2006

Don't blame the Mac crowd, man, blame the non-commenting Windows crowd. I'm sure they'll come around momentarily, though...
posted by flapjax at midnite at 6:28 AM on December 22, 2006

And anyway, coments containing helpful additional links are not derails. Rather, they are to be welcomed!
posted by flapjax at midnite at 6:29 AM on December 22, 2006

This Windows user writes: Meh, most of the software seems to be the suck.

A lot of the past free software seems to be made up of that brand of software that "does stuff" that Windows itself or other, better 3rd party apps already "do", such as ripping audio streams (I use Winamp and Real Alternative), processing and managing images (I use ACDSee), or downloading bulk media from web sites (Linky, Location Navigator and DownThemAll extensions for Firefox.)

I've dragged the link to my toolbar, however, so I'll keep checking it out along with Daily Woot for anything good, but I won't be surprised if I never find anything I want. I'm super picky and demanding of my software.
posted by loquacious at 6:50 AM on December 22, 2006

For an example, see this comment in this thread for a remote desktop tool. XP and Server2003 do it natively, VNC does it open and cross-platform.
posted by loquacious at 6:59 AM on December 22, 2006

Mac owners whingeing about lack of free software is like seeing Lexus owners at a foodbank ;^)

I loved reading alot of the comments on that site - is there a more ungrateful, dense group than free software junkies?

It's an interesting idea, though, and it's one more example of the idea that you can spend money (to get a needed software right away), or you can spend time (checking this site daily, or seeking out and using something open source).
posted by Artful Codger at 7:07 AM on December 22, 2006

...checking THAT site daily, of course. Checking this site daily is time well wasted I mean spent.
posted by Artful Codger at 7:15 AM on December 22, 2006

I rarely find anything on that site that I like enough to download, but I try to remember to look, just in case. The game "Delivery King" was pretty low tech and juvenile, but I found it pretty fun anyway.
posted by LiliaNic at 8:31 AM on December 22, 2006

our visitors will only receive those after downloading a special verification program and agreeing to the Terms and Conditions

Our services include... Direct contact with potential customers through publisher’s software

Has anybody dug into this far enough to see exactly what that "special verification program" does to your system? Ain't no way I'm gonna click on a .exe without more information than that; this thing reeks of trojan.
posted by ook at 8:59 AM on December 22, 2006

(...though comments in their forum suggest I'm just being paranoid. Which I am. But only because everyone's out to get me.)
posted by ook at 9:01 AM on December 22, 2006

On its face, the verification program connects to GOTD's server and presents you with a serial number to cut and paste into the application. I doubt it does more than that; GOTD is a different group of people than the folks that make the software they're giving away, and I doubt those (commercial) software vendors would get into an agreement with GOTD if they thought it was going to associate their software with spyware.
posted by mendel at 9:51 AM on December 22, 2006

I don't see any activate.exe in what I've downloaded...can anyone point me to it?
posted by uosuaq at 4:19 PM on December 22, 2006

Sorry, I was paying attention to the website's instructions rather than the readme file. It's all good now.
posted by uosuaq at 4:39 PM on December 22, 2006

Since "X of the day" sites seem to be proliferating like cats in a photo thread, here's a site that tracks them.
posted by Mr. Gunn at 6:37 PM on December 23, 2006