ISSUE 431: THE HIGH-TECH OFFICE--
Alan Zisman
Comdex computer show headache-free but lacking the
buzz of previous years- Jan 28 1998
Let's start with a confession. I simply don't
like big trade shows such as last week's PacRim Comdex, held
January 20 - 22 at Canada Place. The noise, the lights, the crowds give
me a head-ache. Too many of the booths seem earnest, but simply not
very interesting. And the booths that are interesting to me are also
interesting to lots of other people -- so they're crowded and it's hard
to actually talk to anyone.
Despite my grumbling, in past years, I've found it
worthwhile to visit the annual Vancouver edition of Comdex. There have
been personal favourite moments. Two years ago, it was the booth that
Vancouver multi-media distributor GMS Datalink sponsored in
the lobby,
demonstrating a plastic electric guitar that let non-musicians play
along with loud, obnoxious rock 'n' roll. Last year, there was a buzz
surrounding breakthrough technologies ranging from the Internet and
handheld computers to digital photography and colour printing. I was
able to make contacts that carried me through a half-year of column
writing.
This year, though, my visit to Canada Place was a
disappointment. The Com-
dex organizers, as at all their events, have banned attendees under 21,
want-
ing to make it clear that this is a serious, business-oriented event.
Perhaps as a result of this policy (which would have locked out young
entrepreneur Bill Gates the year he co-founded Micro-
soft), there wasn't much fun. There simply didn't seem to be much
of a buzz. Last year we had a life-sized "robot" wandering the aisles;
this year the main interactive event was flat-panel display distributor
Sceptre's booth, featuring a chance to shoot a
hockey puck through the mouth of the company's lizard
mascot and hosted by a young woman in a very short, very tight skirt.
Tacky, but it got a lineup.
I can't really blame the Comdex folks. They put on an
efficient, well-managed show. In many ways, the computer industry has
got a bit of the doldrums. Waiting for Win98. Waiting for NT 5.0. Not
much challenge from Apple. (In fact, Apple, IBM and
several other past-Comdex exhibitors stayed away this year.) Much of
the Internet's excitement has stalled as users discover the reality of
surfing the Net at modem speed. (And even BC Tel's big an-
nouncement of high-speed ADSL access to the Net seemed identical to BC
Tel's big news last year about high-speed access to the Net.)
Despite Comdex's ex-
pectation of a record 35,000 visitors, the ex-
hibition floor seemed
quieter to me than in recent years. And while Comdex promised 225
exhibitors, the hall itself seemed smaller than last year, with fewer
booths selling CD-ROMs, software, books or gadgets direct to the crowd.
The promise was that the show would be organized
around four themes: Internet, Network Computing, Multimedia and the
Microsoft Partner Pavilion. While Microsoft, as in past years, had its
supporters tightly organized, and situated in the prime real estate at
the main entrance, other exhibitors were scattered randomly throughout
the hall, not leaving me with any sense of mini-themes.
Many of the exhibitors had booths that I recognized
from past years. I hope that the show was a successful way for them to
advertise their companies' activities.
More interesting to me than who was there, was who
wasn't there. I've already mentioned missing biggies IBM and Apple.
Also among the missing were Compaq, Hewlett-Packard and
several others.
Less conspicuous, but among the missing were many B.C.
companies. The list of the non-attendees ranged from many of the
region's larger software producers such as Maximizer, Seagate
Software, Prologic and Pivotal Systems, to most of
the small shops doing often innovative work in Web hosting and design,
multimedia, networking and more -- ironically, the show's purported
themes.
But some local firms were present and accounted for,
including:
* Seanix Technologies, the Richmond computer
manufacturer boldly venturing into the competitive U.S. market
* The Electric Mail Company, providing an
answer for businesses, both large and small, wanting to provide
employees the benefits of Internet e-mail with-out the temptations of
full Internet connectivity
* FirstClass Systems, who provide a range of
computer-based training, with more than 700 instructional packages
* OpenRoad Communications, a division of Synergy
Computer, focused on Web and Java development
* Dominion Blue Reprographics, demonstrating
colour printing, including colour lasers, large-format BubbleJet
prints, and other plotting, printing, and scanning technologies
Other local exhibitors covered the gamut from office
furniture dealers and inkjet cartridge re-inkers to the B.C.
Science Council's Computers for Schools Project.
While I was underwhelmed by this year's PacRim Comdex
show, its lower-key nature did give me less of a head-
ache than the glitz of past years.*
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