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.

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.

*(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