COMDEX Cancelled Again 196
An anonymous reader noted that COMDEX has been cancelled for the second year in a row. And meanwhile, thousands of IT professionals rejoice that they won't be again exposed to strange strains of viruses that their immune system can't handle.
How fitting (Score:3, Funny)
Re:How fitting (Score:3, Funny)
What are you trying to imply? That after yet another crippling bombshell hit the COMDEX community, it's official? That COMDEX is dead?
Who died and made you Netcraft?
(Oh, wait. That'd be COMDEX. Move along...)
I for one (Score:3, Funny)
Oh well (Score:3, Funny)
Regroup again? (Score:4, Insightful)
This year I wonder if it will ever come back. I also wonder just how many people really don't care.
Re:Regroup again? (Score:2)
Re:Regroup again? (Score:4, Interesting)
Since the bubble burst is there really a need for the huge monstrosity that is COMDEX?
Add to that the fact that Vegas is wasted on me (see my sig) and I'd much rather go to a small, focused convention that's more local (I'm within an hour or so drive of both Chicago and Milwaukee).
Re:Regroup again? (Score:1)
Add to that the fact that Vegas is wasted on me...I wouldn't say I'm a bad gambler but the last time I went to Vegas I even lost a buck on the soda machine.
Wasted? Hardly. It sounds more like you are their ideal target audience.
Re:Regroup again? (Score:2)
Exactly. If I want to blow some cash gambling with pretty much no chance of winning I can go across the street and buy a lottery ticket. No waiting four hours for a (delayed) flight out of O'Hare.
Re:Regroup again? (Score:1)
Damn, you just gave me a $20 million marketing idea!
Re:Regroup again? (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Regroup again? (Score:2)
Re:Regroup again? (Score:3, Insightful)
My wife commuted down to the city for years. She finally got a job up here. A mile and a half from home plus a nice raise. I've got it easy, live in VH, work in Mundelein, a little more than a mile commute. On nice days I walk to work. Not exactly commuting from my bed to the living room like working at home bu
Re:Regroup again? (Score:2)
The Basic Problem . . . (Score:3, Funny)
Guess I'll miss out on Vegas this year too! (Score:5, Funny)
Las Vegas hated Comdex anyway (Score:1)
Comment removed (Score:4, Funny)
Re:Las Vegas hated Comdex anyway (Score:2)
Re:Las Vegas hated Comdex anyway (Score:2)
Re:Las Vegas hated Comdex anyway (Score:2)
I don't think the hooker cares much as long as she gets paid.
One Word (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Guess I'll miss out on Vegas this year too! (Score:1)
Re:Guess I'll miss out on Vegas this year too! (Score:2)
i'd rather go to an architect's convention than a computer one anyway.
Re:Guess I'll miss out on Vegas this year too! (Score:2)
Re:Guess I'll miss out on Vegas this year too! (Score:2)
Why? (Score:3, Interesting)
Same reason as last time?
Re:Why? (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Why? (Score:4, Informative)
I think it was cancelled due to lack of interest [itworld.com] (on the sponsor's side, I think). I don't think there'll be an event left to cancel in 2006 ...
Strange viruses (Score:4, Funny)
Re:Strange viruses (Score:2)
but that's just me.
wbs.
Now wait (Score:2)
Eh... (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Eh... (Score:2)
Re:Eh... (Score:1)
Re:Eh... (Score:4, Funny)
It's hot grits and Natalie Portman naked and petrified. And never mind OGG, you really want OOG THE OPEN SOURCE CAVEMAN and The Glorous MEEPT.
OOG THE CAVEMAN BREAK OPEN SOURCE CD OVER HEAD!-- OOG THE OPEN SOURCE CAVEMAN
We will unite all the divided factions of Linux into one great big divided faction!
--The Glorious MEEPT
I wonder if I have been reading /. for too long?
Re:Eh... (Score:2)
Re:Eh... (Score:2)
Re:Eh... (Score:2)
In Korea, only old people try to come up with new memes. -sigh-
m-
"Cancel" is such an ugly word (Score:4, Funny)
Re:"Cancel" is such an ugly word (Score:1)
So don't look at it as being canceled, rather, it's just the natural result of its evolution--becoming the absolute smallest and topic-focused convention it could possibly be.
"Smallest" as in zero attendees and exhibitors.
Re:"Cancel" is such an ugly word (Score:2)
Re:"Cancel" is such an ugly word (Score:1)
Re:"Cancel" is such an ugly word (Score:2)
Re:"Cancel" is such an ugly word (Score:2)
Re:"Cancel" is such an ugly word (Score:2)
it geeks went to comdex ... (Score:2, Funny)
Re:it geeks went to comdex ... (Score:2)
COMDEX has been replaced. (Score:3, Funny)
Request Failed (Score:1)
Why anybody wouldn't have gone anyway ... (Score:4, Informative)
But yeah, I think I should sing Hey Vendor ! , leave our kids alone ...
Comdex Las Vegas Replaced by ... (Score:1, Funny)
But in Nevada they get tested (Score:1, Interesting)
Hold on here.
In Nevada, the licensed, legal hookers are, by law, tested regularly and use a love glove.
You're LESS likely to be exposed to strange viruses going to Comdex and taking a cab to the Bunny Ranch that you are going for a local "woman of negotiable virtue"
I'm so damn close to getting a free ipod [freeipods.com] [freeipods.com], which I'll fill entierly with CC licensed podcasts and rips of CDS I own.
Re:But in Nevada they get tested (Score:2)
The BunnyRanch is in Carson City. That's a very long taxi ride.
Re:But in Nevada they get tested (Score:1)
I guess it's a very uhh.. rigidly enforced law.
Re:But in Nevada they get tested (Score:2)
Re:But in Nevada they get tested (Score:2)
I was wondering about that. I think its actually cheaper to rent a vehicle and have one designated driver.
Re:But in Nevada they get tested (Score:3, Funny)
~~rimshot~~
Re:But in Nevada they get tested (Score:3, Informative)
Re:But in Nevada they get tested (Score:2)
Re:But in Nevada they get tested (Score:2)
Outlived its usefulness (Score:5, Insightful)
I went to Comdex a few times in the mid 90's, and while there were some neat things to see (hardware MPEG decoder cards had just become widely available, with several vendors showing off their various models), it was just too crowded and too unfocused. Wander two aisles over, and instead of multimedia hardware, you were at the cheap PC case makers. Even a few large LED manufacturers set up booths. WTF? I'm sure LED's are important, but how large of an audience can you get at Comdex for a commodity product like LED's?
It's time to move on, and let Comdex die. I'd insert a "Netcraft confirms it" troll/joke here, but I'm sure somebody's already dedicated an entire post to it.
-paul
Re:Outlived its usefulness (Score:2)
The best stuff I find at trade shows is stuff I wasn't expecting to find.
We already do (Score:2)
Perhaps COMDEX should simply be retired (Score:3, Interesting)
Idea: /.) they re-align the show to be the Premier Expo of all things FOSS. But given the capitalisation of FOSS, it'll take a lot of bake sales to scare up the scratch to rent something like the Moscone Center for a weekend. And trying to organise such a show would be monstrous - getting FOSS people together is like herding cats.
Unless, of course, (shamelss plug for all things
But it would give Comdex a raison d'etre, seeing as how it presently has zero purpose to exist.
RS
Re:Perhaps COMDEX should simply be retired (Score:3, Informative)
Don't we already have one of those [oreillynet.com]?
You should come; at the very least, it's undeniable that merlyn throws great parties (no more live animals, though - got in trouble for the alpacas in '03). Lots of vendors giving away free stuff ("free as in lunch"), an open computer lab and WiFi from Apple, 20% discount to convention-goers from Powell's Technical Books, and I'd be surprised if Linus T
Tradeshows just aren't the same (Score:5, Funny)
Oh for the world of stock options and big promotional booths for products that didn't exist then and still don't now. To booth babes and bunnys, T-shirts and ice cream. I never won a car or PDA, but I haven't bought a pen in 6 years.
Re:Tradeshows just aren't the same (Score:5, Funny)
Pfft. Rookie. I took all my promotional schwag and lived in the wilderness for two years armed with only my ruler, LED flashlight, tape measure, solar calculator, collapsable water bottle, twenty t-shirts to use as a tent, one hundred pens for tent stakes, a stress ball, and fifty business-card-sized CDs that I used as shriuken to kill animals for food.
Needless to say I came back with a rockin beard and a newfound appreciation for being able to take a dump in a recipticle made especially for that purpose.
Re:Tradeshows just aren't the same (Score:3, Funny)
All I got was a rock.
Re:Tradeshows just aren't the same (Score:2)
Heh. I once won a Palm III when it was the latest and greatest. That would be.. hmm.. '98?
Maybe a good thing? (Score:4, Insightful)
Comdex comes from a time when consumer grade computing was still in it infancy, so a general cover all everything show was possible, and a good idea. Now, with the field being so huge it's probably better to not try and cover the entire market in one go.
I want my IT people to have grounding in the entire computer field, but to be very specific to their field in detail. I want my network security people to eat and sleep network security and my hardware people to dream of nothing but hardware.
Re:Maybe a good thing? (Score:2)
Las Vegas should be able to handle the entire industry, no?
Re:Maybe a good thing? (Score:5, Insightful)
I want my IT people to have grounding in the entire computer field, but to be very specific to their field in detail. I want my network security people to eat and sleep network security and my hardware people to dream of nothing but hardware.
Spoken like a true PHB!
Re:Maybe a good thing? (Score:2, Funny)
Somebody call Security! Take that man's geek credentials and escort him to the door!
Their *real* dream... (Score:3, Funny)
Network Sec. Guy dream: ZzzzZZzzzZZZ PORN ZzZZZzz
Hardware Guy dream: ZzzzZZZzzZZ P0rN ZzzZZZZz
Re:Maybe a good thing? (Score:2)
Is this the beginning of the end? (Score:1)
IN SOVIET RUSSIA (Score:2, Funny)
Product life-cycles changed (Score:5, Insightful)
Then, along comes the internet, and companies had an easy way to disseminate new product information, software demos, etc., on a year round basis. Companies became less inclined to hold new releases for Comdex, and the show becames less important (and much less useful).
Of course, marketing it so that it appealed to the PHB's who looked at it as an excuse to spend a week in Vegas further diluted its appeal to the tech crowd.
Same thing happened to the auto industry -- it used to be that they focused all their energy on the new model year (starting in September, if I remember). Now, although most of the major manufacturers still release new models in the fall, it's become more of a year round effort.
Postal service (Score:1)
How long before... (Score:3, Funny)
10..9..8..7..6..
Too late, it already is.
Seriously? Big whoop. (Score:5, Insightful)
Like a few people have said, the smaller, more focused shows are doing OK (Linuxworld out here in Boston seemed to be a hit, for instance), but I think the day of the giant "everything for everybody" show is over. N+I is dead for all practical purposes (I used to go to the Atlanta one), Macworld is pretty much down to one (though last years' Boston show was OK), and the only "biggie" left is CES for now.
Ultimately the Internet and the tech bust killed the trade show, but more importantly the maturity of the market has made the biggest impact. No COMDEX? Big deal.
those poor strippers here in vegas (Score:1)
I'm assuming that... (Score:2)
I find it ironic... (Score:2, Insightful)
If this keeps up... (Score:3, Insightful)
Despite the downturn in manufacturing slaughtering the industry, Eastec and Westec are still held every year without missing a beat. Similarly, other industries still manage to hold their cons. Why is COMDEX the one to keep failing at this?
Oh well, we'll have to settle for cherry-picking among the more specialized industry cons and getting sick there.
Comdex: Stick a fork in it.... (Score:2)
Comdex has been replaced by CES (Score:2)
Re:Comdex has been replaced by CES (Score:2, Insightful)
But at CES'05, I heard lots of people complaining abou the size, the lack of focus, and the extreme difficulties involved in walking away from the show with anything useful accomplished.
Sure, there were lots of cool toys to look at, but it was too hard to filter out the gems, much less find business opportunities among the clutter.
Now, I suspect that unless CES trims size and improves focus, it will begin to die as well.
Top 5 Ways to Improve
Viruses? (Score:2)
Virus threat at COMDEX (Score:2)
Enthusiast show? (Score:2)
Go to CeBIT (Score:2)
Their loss.
And now for a different spin... (Score:2)
More to the point, and paraphrasing Chevy Chase's old Saturday Night Live gag about Generalissimo Francisco Franco [wikipedia.org]:
"This breaking news just in...Comdex is still dead!"
Re:Slashdot confirms it... (Score:2)
Re:Whatcha talkin 'bout Willis? (Score:2, Funny)
Re:Whatcha talkin 'bout Willis? (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:Whatcha talkin 'bout Willis? (Score:2)
Re:AVN? (Score:2, Informative)
Not Comdex, in November.
As far as I can tell the AVN expo [adult-expo.com] will be January 5-8, coincident with CES 2006.
Re:Good (Score:2)