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This is more than just a giveaway, though, because:

1.) He tied it in with the current presidential election

2.) He framed it as a challenge with a lot of chutzah (really, running CodeWeaver is nowhere near as complicated as running the U.S.)

3.) The reason he "lost" has to do with a current event (the economic crisis) that has nothing to do with the original challenge (Bush didn't lower gas prices, the crude market did).

4.) The press release had a funny, irreverent tone.

That seems tailor-made for a viral story. It's not that they were giving things away, it was that they were giving things away and relating them to current events in an offbeat way.

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