Portland Macintosh Users Group

These trade shows are all about the same. They rent the PDX Conference center and have a kick off speech. Then they open the show hall where vendors have tables and tout their products. Sometimes they have guest suites where they serve munchies.

The shows have several purposes.

For the vendors:
- Sell stuff
- Introduce new products
- Get customer feedback
- Give the developers a mini-vacation and a sense of the "marketplace"

For the customers:
- Get to meet technical experts
- Lobby the vendors for your favorite new features
- Get show specials on various gear
- Get free stuff

It is no surprise that the vendors hope to get something for their considerable expense. If it didn't pay, they'd not be making all this neat stuff for us, the customers. My friend John Neal said the only way to judge a trade show is by how many free CD's he got. (But he usually bought something as well.) For the seasoned expo customer, the free stuff is called "swag". The best swag used to be CD's, now it is clearly T-Shirts.

I like to go to talk with the developers or the product administrators. I get to tell them what they've done right and what "I" think they should do in the future to make their products even better. (I once scored a free copy of FileMaker Pro!) Sometimes I get to meet the guy who wrote the code. That is usually a frustrating experience for both of us. (Details on request) Other times when you meet the developers, you get to tell them how wonderful they are and how much we admire their generosity and brilliance. (I once met the guy who wrote the "shims" that enabled my PCI/SCSI card to work on OSX. Before it did not work... I got a new "shim" on-line... and it then worked. I gave him some of my swag, a super ball with an internal LED that strobed when bounced.)

Now the local PDX Mac Business Expo is an event put on for us by the Computer Store NW. They've done it for years now and it has grown mightily. You see the Computer Store NW has the noble purpose of serving the "business" community. They are set up to provide the professional service/training/hand-holding that the business customer needs and will pay for. When the payroll must go out and there is a glitch, the business customer wants to see a bunch of suits there on site looking suitably concerned. We PMUG-ers are in contrast, a bunch of hippies. The Computer Store NW has an interest in maintaining the credibility of the Mac as a serious platform and a pool of trained Mac users (That's us) in the local populace is a plus. So they invite us to their events and they advertise in Mouse Tracks. Thank them if you get a chance.

So how did the Mac Business Expo go? Just great!

I went to the keynote speech. We heard the VP of Marketing. I am a stock holder so I wanted to hear some financial numbers. I was impressed. Over 1/2 the stock price is cash (or at least short term bonds... that means they missed out on the recent dip in tech portfolios) and the they can invest going into the recovery. Then the talk went into the typical Apple love feast that never goes out of style. A rosy glow filled the hall. If there had been munchies, you'd wonder that they'd spiked the punch A series of software developers had 5 minute demos that were actually quite good. The meeting ran over cause the audience didn't want to leave. But we did, and the conference hall was already pretty full.

I met John Landforce (CEO of the Computer Store NW) and reminded him of the iMac launch in PDX where he jumped on the counter to lead the count down to Mid-night eastern time. He admitted he'd repeated the stunt a few times since cause it makes such a good impression. I met Pam Gray (PDX manager) and thanked her for her decision to support the Mouse Tracks. We're all in the same boat she said. We talked about the new iMacs. The were doing very well in the business community. Must be a status symbol. The biggest iMacs sell best. I met some buds who said the swag was slim pickins... let's do lunch... too early I said.

The speed bumped Titanium G4 Power books were just being delivered and I bought the 1st one sold in PDX. I got a free extended service contract, a free padded computer bag, and a free airline ticket good anywhere in the lower 48. Nice deal. Especially since the speed bumped Titanium G4's were not only faster than the preceding models, but also were cheaper. I asked Pam why they were being so generous with their newest product. She said: Show special, besides... we love you guys. Off to the vendors.

Let me tell you about carrying around a new in the box Titanium G4 at a trade show: You get a lot of respect. Must be what is like being a Hi-Roller in Las Vegas. All the vendors were impressed. I got extra swag. OK, only a yo-yo, a few mouse pads, and a blow-up mouse cradle from McAlly,... But it was better than my friends who left early for lunch. A big discussion was raging at Adobe over Photoshop vs iMovie vs FinalCut. The Adobe guy knew nothing, but the customers had all the answers. We were a mixed lot and between us we did very well I thought. The Adobe marketer took notes. Off to Apple, I saw the un-relaeased and much rumored iPhoto 1.1. I met and talked with an iPhoto developer on what was in store for version 1.2. There was a discussion on scanner support. Those of you who have Photoshop 7 probably know that it won't work with scanners and the like. The hardware interface is split between the TWAIN modules and the classic EXTENSIONs. Well, we don't have EXTENSIONs in OSX, so the scanners don't work in OSX. What to do? Well Apple has about 20 ways to solve the problems and will deliver a solution if Adobe/Epson/Et all don't get their act in gear. (You don't hear this sort of stuff in MacAddict!) Adobe/Epson/Apple were all in on this very friendly discussion. Did you know that the current Epson print drivers for OSX won't work in OSX 1.1.4? Well, it hard to fault them. It was a rush job to get the drivers ready for OSX 1.0, but they stopped and never finished the job. Time to do it.

I left out a lot. Cannon was there answering the most mundane questions imaginable. There were so many really interesting questions that could have been asked too! PMUG was busy selling memberships (I hope.) But I put in the things most interesting for me.

Richard Arnold