A New Kind Of Heist: Six Apps For Free
5:53 am, November 6th, 2009, Giles Turnbull
Those crazy MacHeisters are at it again, and this time the deal is even harder to resist.
The first ever MacHeist Nano won’t cost you a penny. You can download, without charge, fully licensed copies of ShoveBox, WriteRoom, Twitterific, TinyGrab, and Hordes of Orcs. If 500,000 people take part (which I think is a pretty safe bet), they’ll throw in a copy of Mariner Write as well.
Sweet deal? I reckon. All of these are great apps. What’s the catch?
Instead of shelling out cash, you have to answer a simple question posed by the Heisters: even though this bundle is free, how much would you be prepared to pay for it? An answer to that, plus your name and email, and the apps are yours.
What’s really going on here? The Heist machine is gathering names and email addresses. Sure, they say they “We will never email you unless you request it”, but once you’ve signed up and you see the downloads page, you’ll also see an “Email preferences” panel on the right:
By default, the checkbox saying “Keep me informed about future MacHeist events and deals!” is already checked. So, if you really don’t want to hear from them anymore, you’ll need uncheck it and click Save Preferences.
There’s nothing wrong with this, but it’s worth remembering that nothing is really for free. You’re not paying money for these apps, you’re just paying a little bit of information. For the vast majority of folks, that’s probably worth it.
Posted by Giles Turnbull in News, Software, Top stories | Comment on this article
I tried getting these for free, but I have the same problem alot of other users have been reporting. The website says “Generating Serials”. Anyone know what to do?
Zachary Yoder, on November 6th, 2009 at 9:14 am
You just have to wait. It is truly generating your serials. You can go ahead and download all the software, but go back in around an hour to grab your serials. Mine didn’t start showing up until after I had started downloading.
skucera, on November 6th, 2009 at 9:44 am
I’ve participated in the last two “big” MacHeists, so they had my email address for over two years. I never got anything besides two or three mails stating there’s a new heist or bundle available.
I don’t think that the “little bit of information”, consisting of my name an email address, is that much of a problem. It takes 10 seconds to find them on Google.
accolon, on November 6th, 2009 at 10:05 am
It took a while, but I did get the serials. Just be patient. I guess their servers are just overwhelmed by gigantic demand. I am particularly fond of Write Room.
Cheers!
Gonzalo Fernández, on November 6th, 2009 at 10:25 am
-Update..
I got my serials, about 3-4 hours later, must’ve been the huge traffic flow that slowed the SN generating.
Awesome package though!
Zachary Yoder, on November 6th, 2009 at 12:18 pm
Yep, same here. My serials took a few hours to appear. I think you’re right about the traffic. Must be busy on the MacHeist servers today.
giles, on November 6th, 2009 at 12:25 pm
i had the serial number delay too.
I’ve got most of them now though.
ambienteternity, on November 6th, 2009 at 12:33 pm
The only disappointment is they didn’t us don mcallister for the loot description. My serials where available after about 30 seconds
Buck, on November 6th, 2009 at 2:18 pm
it took me a few hours, but i have the serial. No one of the programs is that good anyway..
mariov, on November 6th, 2009 at 2:28 pm
I think Writeroom and Shovebox are worth it.
king, on November 6th, 2009 at 6:46 pm
Hordes of Orcs is actually a great game.
ted, on November 7th, 2009 at 1:53 pm