Word: comdex
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...Comdex, for those non-techie types lucky enough to have never attended, is the annual computer convention, the largest of its kind. It is a vast, sprawling mess that swallows the Las Vegas convention center along with several surrounding hotels (Microsoft, for example, took over twenty floors of the Marriot down the road). Attendance was down this year - from 200,000 to around 125,000. Perhaps it was fear of flying. Perhaps it was the rumor that terrorists were planning to release smallpox at the convention. Perhaps it was the metal detectors and bomb-sniffing dogs that patrolled every entrance...
...Sure, there are choice tidbits here and there. Bill Gates' "state of the union" keynote speech on Sunday unveiled some interesting new Tablet PCs and the software that will make them work (Tablet PCs, vaporware at every previous Comdex, are finally starting to come into their own). But to get to the scraps of good stuff, even in Gates' speech, you had to wade through a lot of promotional crap. It's just like watching Prime Time...
...writing this column in Las Vegas airport, and believe me, the plane back to San Francisco can't come fast enough. It isn't the slots, the showgirls or even the prospect of a Rat Pack revival at the Sahara that is making me flee Sin City. It's Comdex...
...would be fine if that were all it was. I have no problem hanging out with geeks getting in touch with their inner desires, like the Microsofties who got body shots from silicone-enhanced exotic dancers at The Beach on Monday night. My problem is that Comdex has spread itself too wide and become too shallow to be of any real use. The products on display have usually either been seen a hundred times before or are showy prototypes - "vaporware" - that will never reach the market and are intended to drum up hype for their company...
...they themselves have produced the means to eliminate such gatherings altogether is one of the greatest ironies of our times. You can watch the keynotes, order products and subject yourself to a barrage of ads online. "The whole point is to get the f___ out of the office," one Comdex veteran told me. That may be true, but even the week's most decadent moments seemed sadly sordid...