When Maxthon was selected as one of the Webware 100  winners,  Webware editor Rafe Needleman wrote up Maxthon in the description of all the award winners.  There was one problem with the write up.  It gives a false impression of the circumstances surrounding the votes Maxthon received in the browser categoryRafe writes:

“Of the ten categories, the most popular in terms of votes cast was Browsing. However it’s worth noting that one of the entries in that category, Maxthon, drove an inordinate amount of votes by putting a vote-driving popup in the software itself.”

The problem is that word “inordinate.” It suggests that Maxthon didn’t deserve all the votes it received. To set the record straight, here are  the events  that led up to Maxthon garnering more than 400,000 votes, about a  fourth of all the votes cast in the Webware contest among all 100 winning products.

When Maxthon was chosen as a finalist for the award, Needleman wrote us, “Starting on February 25, you can encourage your users and fans to vote for your product ….” There was no qualification on how we could encourage users to vote; we could have hired the Goodyear blimp or bought advertising time on American Idol.   We chose to put links to the voting site on a few of Maxthon’s pages and on a pop-up we sometimes use for  such things as news and wishing users a Merry Christmas.

The hitch in the process occurred when David Lenehan, the CEO of PollDaddy, the company tallying the votes,  walked into his server room  to be greeted by flashing lights and screaming alarms.  The Maxthon  votes, coming in at a rate as high as  100 votes for ever y .01 seconds, had brought down his servers.

Lenehan, in Ireland,  got in touch with  Maxthon CEO Jeff Chen in Beijing through  Skype chat.  After hearing  Chen’s explanation of how Maxthon was promoting itself for the contest, Lenehan said, “There is nothing wrong with what you did. … There is nothing wrong with your votes.

“Going by the vote count I don’t think you guys actually need any more votes,” he added.

Chen agreed  to the solution Lenehan proposed: taking the contest link off  the news pop-up.  

“Although we want more users to know, I also don’t want to take trouble to your system,” Chen said.

After the pop-up was deactivated, votes for Maxthon continued to pour in. After the contest, Needleman wrote Chen, “ I do owe you a big thanks: 6% of the Maxthon voters also cast votes for other Webware 100 finalists, and we really do appreciate the traffic and the visibility.“

What it comes down to is that Maxthon is a damn good browser, its  users reflect that fact with their enthusiastic support, and a vote is a vote is a vote.  Anyone who has doubts that Maxthon deserves to be in the Top Ten of all vote getters for the Webware 100 Awards only has to download a copy at http://maxthon.com/download.htm to find out for themselves.

If you haven’t heard, Maxthon 2 has just received a Webware 100 award in the Browser  category.  (If you haven’t heard, click here for the complete story.) For a program such as Maxthon, that has grown through  word-of-mouth, the Webware award is highly appropriate because it too is based on the voices of  the people.  Computer users cast nearly 2 million votes to select the 100 winners among Internet software, services and sites.

Early on the judges at CNET could tell from the number of votes that Maxthon was a shoo-in for the browser category. Then CNET editor Rafe Needleman claimed we had a “pop-up” in Maxthon  itself that was linked to the page where users could vote.  As he tells it in his Webware 100 coverage, he asked that the “pop-up” be removed.

But then guess what happened. The votes for Maxthon kept pouring in.  The secret of the big wave for Maxthon wasn’t a dirty trick; it was the sincere appreciation for all Maxthon can do.  By the time it was all over Max had received enough votes to make the Top Ten.  Not the top ten browsers, but the top ten  of all the 100 products that received an award. The only other browser to make it to the Top Ten was Firefox.

Are we sounding smug?  Damn right we are!  Maxthon has a lot to be smug about. And so do you