body-container-line-1
09.04.2009 Press Release

Earth Day PC Giveaway Could Save Millions of Tons of CO2

09.04.2009 LISTEN
By Userful Corporation

Reduce your carbon footprint this Earth Day and save money at the

same time.
CALGARY, AB (April 8, 2009) - Userful Corporation, the worldwide

leader in high-performance, low-cost desktop virtualization, today

announces a "PC" giveaway in celebration of the 39th anniversary of

Earth Day. Userful is giving away a free 2-user version of their

innovative software which turns one computer into up to ten with the

goal of having 100,000 people download the software and share their

computer before Earth Day. In 2008 Userful's PC-sharing software

saved over 40,000 tons of CO2 emissions, and is on track to save over

200,000 tons of CO2 in 2009, the equivalent of taking more than 35,000

cars off the road, or planting 50,000 acres of trees!

Desktop computers sit idle while we check our e-mail, surf the web,

or type a document. Userful's PC-sharing and desktop virtualization

technology leverages this excess computing power to create an

environmentally efficient alternative to traditional desktop

computing. Up to 10 users can work on a single computer by simply

attaching extra monitors, mice and keyboards.
"On March 28th hundreds of millions of people turned off their lights

for Earth Hour," says Timothy Griffin, President of Userful. "Events

such as Earth Day and Earth Hour prove that a simple change worldwide

can dramatically reduce global energy consumption and consequent CO2

emissions. For example the government of Brazil recently deployed

over 350,000 Userful PC-sharing workstations into schools. This alone

will save 200 million kWh annually, the equivalent of turning 3.7

billion lights* off for an hour. Now imagine if on Earth Day hundreds

of millions of people decided to download Userful's free PC-sharing

software to share their PC. The electricity and e-waste savings of

this simple change would be incredible.'
Userful PC-sharing desktops have been deployed in over 100 countries

with a typical configuration of 6 workstations per computer. Reducing

the number of computers in use has additional earth-friendly benefits.

Electronic waste is an increasing problem globally due to the quick

obsolescence of electronics. This is compounded by the fact that

computer waste is high in many toxic materials such as heavy metals

and flame-retardant plastics, which easily leach into ground water

and bio-accumulate. Using Userful products can reduce electronic

waste by up to 80%, further decreasing its environmental footprint.

Userful is the simplest, and highest performance approach to desktop

virtualization and management on the market. All other PC-sharing

solutions lead to sacrifices in performance and substantial

administration overhead. Userful offers the features of a full PC

including high performance video for less than $50 per additional

seat in large deployments such as a recent 356,800 workstation

deployment in Brazilian schools, and uses standard PC hardware.

Savings of up to 90% in electricity use as compared to a traditional

PC-per-workstation solution are achieved thanks to Userful's

revolutionary solution.
Need an extra PC around the house? In celebration of Earth Day

Userful is giving away a free version of its innovative software that

gives you a second computer for free! This is the perfect way to

reduce line-ups for the computer as spouses, parents and children

battle for a turn.
"The free two-user giveaway doubles the utility and value of your

existing computer with minimal cost," says Griffin, "In fact, if you

already have an extra monitor and keyboard, it's like getting a free

computer. Our goal is for 100,000 people to download the software and

share their computer before Earth Day.'
The free two-user licenses distributed under this promotion enable

users with an extra video card (or a dual-head video card) to add an

extra workstation by simply plugging in a spare monitor, USB keyboard

and mouse. Thousands of users have obtained free two-user licenses and

information about the promotion from
http://userful.com/earth-day-free-pc.
For the full version of the press release please visit:

http://userful.com/press/earth-day-free-pc

*(Based on 526kWh per PC per year for operation; 1818kWh per PC for

production; electricity generated at 1.55lbs CO2 per kWh; 11,560lbs

CO2 per car per year; 60W per light; and 8,060lbs CO2 per acre of

trees per year)
About Userful (http://www.userful.com)
Userful is the industry leader in desktop virtualization and

multi-station Linux computing: the low-cost, high-performance

alternative to thin clients. Userful's powerful software transforms

standard PCs to support up to 10 simultaneous monitors, keyboards and

users, and manages them all at once through a central website.

Privately held and founded in 1999, Userful launched their flagship

product in 2003 and was recently named Alberta's 10th fastest growing

company under $20 million in revenue. Userful software is used in over

100 countries, and is bringing affordable green desktop computing to

millions of users worldwide. http://www.userful.com

###
More information about Earth Day is available from Wikipedia:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earth_Day

body-container-line