Sorry this article is late, but I wanted to write about the PC Expo at the Javits Center in New York City that I attended yesterday.... but the weird thing is, I feel like nothing is going on! Is the computing industry moving that slowly that nothing is going on, or am I so on top of the news that nothing seemed new yesterday?! :)
Who wasn't there (or who did I somehow miss)?
Apple was not there. Maybe that's because this is the "PC" Expo, but since I saw a few booths using iMacs, you'd think they'd want a presence anyway. Casio was not there, which really surprised me considering all the fuss over their newest PDAs (the Cassiopeia 100 and 105). They're just being stocked by stores now, so I thought they'd make a push, but NO! The Microsoft booth had 2 of them to plug the CE platform, but no Casio! ISPs weren't there (I think CompuServe might have been there, but do they count?), again maybe because this is the "PC Expo" and they're all waiting for "Fall Internet World," but almost everyone who has a computer uses the internet, so it seems like a natural place to push your internet service.
Who/What was there?
I mostly saw Microsoft plugging everything from Win2000 to MSN, companies selling printers, flat screens, Gateway, Linux had a spot, and productivity software (like billing, voice recognition, calendars/PIMs, etc...). Adobe was there to plug the upcoming Photoshop version 5.5 (among other new releases). It seems that despite Photoshop being almost in a class of its own when it comes to retouching photos and the like, they now feel they are competing with Macromedia's products for the web, like Fireworks (which I use mostly for making animated GIFs). This should thoroughly confuse those in graphics/photos who don't work with the web or interactive multimedia.
I think the best thing at the show was Oasis, the day spa who had people doing massages in chairs - I got a really great massage from a very talented woman who also did energy work. I felt like I wasn't at a trade show.... I was able to block out all that sound. :)
What is with these trade shows?
Well the good news is that I saw NO women in bikinis asking you how you feel about routers. I did, however, see 3 people dressed as plush toucans (?) doing a choreographed dance for some booth. As I looked at who that vendor was (it was a well-known company, but now I forgot who it was), and thought about how embarrassing and irrelevant this dancing was, I walked past two gentlemen as one said, "This is kinda cute." I don't know about you, but I don't go to computer trade shows for the dancing, or the bad scripted acting.
Go To Page: 1 2
