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Yes, the annual pilgrimage to Las Vegas
for Fall COMDEX has come and gone and the 1999 version was
smaller than last year. Also, many companies were in hotels
rather than on the show floor. COMDEX is a general computer
show and there has been a trend toward specialty shows.
Microsoft was pushing Windows 2000. Philips was centering
on incorporating technology further into people's everyday
life, showing it off on a two-story cutaway house with actors
playing a modern family (next stop: the networked bathroom).
Symantec was alerting that your computer is not safe on the
Internet, especially if you are connected 24 hours a day via
cable modem or DSL, then pushing their Internet Security package.
Bluetooth, which makes a wireless connection for handheld
devices to a network, was also on display from a variety of
manufacturers. Of course there is the continuing battle of
Palm Pilot vs. Windows CE (Palm is winning at this point).
Digital cameras were everywhere. The quality for the same
price is going up. The big issues are how the images are stored
and how to get the images from the camera into your computer.
The question is, are these methods of storage and transfer
going to become standards, lock you with one manufacturer,
or fade away? For images you have compact flash, smart media,
memory sticks, and floppies. Sony has pushed floppies as the
way, but now are pushing their memory sticks. They are trying
to create their own standard using them for many devices and
making them computer readable. Will they beat out compact
flash and smart media? Of course, when you get those pictures
into your computer, you will want to edit them. MGI was showing
a new version of their PhotoSuite, Version 3. Microsoft was
showing their new Version 2 of PhotoDraw 2000. There were
also a number of companies offering websites where you could
post images so your family and friends could see them, including
Kodak.
One of the changes I saw in many places was the effect of
the move from analog to digital camcorders. This means using
a different way of getting the video into a computer. Instead
of using a video capture card or device to transform it from
an analog signal to digital, you use a strict digital to digital
transfer interface. The preferred digital interface is IEEE
1394 (a.k.a. Firewire & iLINK). And of course you need
new editing software to take advantage of the new feature
of digital video and IEEE 1394. Sony has computers that already
have 1394 interfaces and editing software, which other computer
manufactures seem to be starting to follow. However you can
get these from other companies, such as Pinnacle Systems.
Overall there was no great excitement, except in one place.
That place was the Linux Business Expo. People were excited
there. Linux is something that is moving on the computer scene
rapidly, and people are caught up in it. They were there to
share what new things could be done with Linux. The companies
were trying to show that they have solved the problems of
difficult installations. Yes, Linux has discovered Plug and
Play! Corel introduced their Linux distribution (Debian distribution
with some enhancements thrown in), and they tried to show
its ease of installation at their demonstrations by having
someone come up from the audience who had never installed
an operating system before to install Linux right there. One
of the things that the Linux companies were trying to push
is Linux is more stable than Windows NT. Caldera Systems had
an interesting way of doing this. As usual Microsoft gives
away a large number of bags people carry things around in
and since their booth area is right at the front of the main
convention hall, a large number of people pick these up. At
Caldera's booth they had a waist high clear plastic box with
their bags hanging from the sides. On the front of the box
it said "Bag Exchange-Exchange Your Bag For A More Stable
One." Also, there were onsite Linux contests. As expected,
Red Hat Software had a nice sized booth front and center.
The excitement about Linux was also shown at the Vendors Forum
at the meeting of the Association of Personal Computer User
Groups. When it was asked of the user group officers there
how many were using Linux, 40% raised their hands.
Another theme was Internet Audio. A number of companies were
showing MP3 jukeboxes. A few, such as Sonic Foundry's Siren,
will also allow you to make audio CDs. Sharp had an interesting
software/hardware combo called the Internet MiniDisc Solution
that allows Internet audio to be automatically downloaded
and recorded to a MiniDisc. One of the thoughts is that you
can do overnight downloads of audio (music, audio books, speeches,
etc), and then just grab the MiniDisc player/recorder on you
way out the door the next morning. You then have the audio
to listen to at your convenience during the day.
There also were LCD projectors in many places. Sanyo had
something different however. They were saying that LCD projectors
would replace the film projectors at movie theaters. They
were demonstrating one that had replaced film projectors at
a few theaters around the country (They had a very Big Booth).
The movies were distributed to the theaters via laser disk.
So, saying you went to a theater to see a film may soon not
be true anymore.
Fall COMDEX is not what it used to be. However, it is still
a place where you can see the trends in the computer industry
and many new products. I expect it will be that way for at
least a few years yet to come.
About the Author
He leads the Videoconferencing Pilot Project, which explores
the uses of video technologies within computer user groups.
He has been a member of the Association of Personal Computer
User Groups' Board of User Group Advisors since January 1998;
and became a member of its Board of Directors in January 2000.
He was President of the San Diego Computer Society for 3 years.
He started its program to assist schools, which has saved
the local schools 3 million dollars over 4 years and has been
a model for programs throughout the United States. He is also
on the Management Information Systems Program Advisory Board
of California State University, Fullerton; which he also graduated
from with honors and with the double majors of Management
Information Systems and Accounting. He is Treasurer of the
Los Angeles Area Alumni Chapter of Beta Gamma Sigma, the national
business honor society. He works as a computer/business consultant
and lives in Azusa, California. He is also a member of TUGNET.
Further information can be found at http://home.earthlink.net/~teveringham/.
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