Finally!
Oh wait, no gaming PC... Poo

Be sure to post ehre when it is free!

hmm... might have to bust out my MW2 disks in the meantime... I think I still have Clan Ghost Bear somewhere around here.

So wait. They had never even gotten permission to do the free release before announcing it?
What the hell?

They had permission, but the specifics on when and how to act upon that permission had not been worked out. They were just looking for S&T to give them the "go ahead" on the actual release date.
BTW - In order to get the free download, you need to install MekTek's distribution client software, MTX. It's kind of like Steam or Impulse, in that it is a download manager and patching utility for all MekTek releases. No standalone installers or patches for this free release.

Back in July, when I first heard about this, I was like, "Oh, this would be really fun to play at the annual university LAN party in November."
Of course, they would release it the weekend after the aforementioned LAN party. :-P

So, the main reason why we haven't seen it out yet at this point is simply because of inefficient bureaucracy BS.
Nevertheless, beggars can't be choosers. We're lucky they even considered to make the game freeware, and all spruced up with MekTek enhancements at that.