dacs.doc electric

You know you've been in the computer biz a while when you're going to Las Vegas for your twelfth fall Comdex. It was with unusual excitement that I found myself on a plane going to spend an entire week walking the aisles, schmoozing vendors, attending parties, and observing my first keynote (I usually avoid them to save time and just read the summaries later).

In case you've never heard of Comdex, it's a computer convention held twice a year. Comdex is usually held in Las Vegas in the fall and at various locations in the spring. During my career in the computer business I've been forced to deal with the long lines for bus transportation, a severe lack of hotel rooms, the general sleaziness of Vegas, and paying cabs to get around. But things have changed.

Las Vegas has grown up over the past 12 years. When I first visited Vegas, it was really scummy. You couldn't walk down the "strip" without having pornographic literature jammed in your face, or enduring a come-on by a hooker. Now the strip has been scrubbed, and only in a few areas are you bothered. It's also a much cleaner city now.

Las Vegas has changed the most of any city I've ever seen. It has literally been rebuilt, changing from a sleazy gambling town to a tourist mecca that saw more than 35 million visitors last year. There are dozens of new expensive and exotic hotels that are a wonder to observe. I stayed at the Luxor, a 30-story black- glass pyramid built in the middle of the desert.

The show really started before the Monday morning opening. I attended a smaller exhibition at the Golden Nugget around noon and attended two parties Sunday night after the keynote speeches. I have avoided keynotes in the past because they have usually been canned presentations, full of marketing propaganda, meant for people new to computers. But this time I couldn't resist the Bill Gates' speech. He had just been handed the news that the Judge in the anti-trust suit thinks he's a monopolist Bill opened the speech with a great one, "Heard any good lawyer jokes lately?"

The line to enter the keynote was huge. I write for dacs.doc, so I had press credentials (this is a great perk, you might want to consider writing yourself). This got me a spot in the VIP line, so I wound up in the fourth row. We journalists were allowed two minutes to take pictures when Gates came out for the photo session, so I actually got a close-up shot of Bill. I put together a slideshow on the DACS Web site of photos from Comdex, including Bill's.

Bill showed many new technologies, including a clustering Web server that allows big companies to add or remove Web servers as they need to. He also showed a new interface that connects your computer to your car. The demo, which used a new Ford Focus, showed how you can download your music to the CD player, or even upload GPS and trip information from the car to your computer. Very slick! I am just a little bit nervous about experiencing a "blue screen of death" on the highway, though.

I spent the better part of the week wandering the aisles, meeting with our customers and supplies, and even attending several great parties (see the slide show). I saw a number of interesting things at the show, but my "Best of Show Award" would have to go to the Linux pavilion. In the past I would have voted for a product or service, but the most interesting thing at Comdex was Linux. In a hall that was deserted last year, I found an entirely new group of companies dedicated to Linux. Dozens of booths, representing Caldera, Red Hat, Andover, and even Corel, showed off products and services for the Unix operating system. The coolest one had the staff of www.slashdot.org hanging out and working on their Website live at the show.

Elsewhere at Comdex I found some really neat technology. Biometric security devices were everywhere. These devices add another level of protection beyond your password. They scan your retina, fingerprint, or even your voice. The one I liked the most was the BioLink mouse, which has a thumbprint scanner built into the side of it. To use your computer, you simply have to use the mouse. Very easy to use, and a lot harder to forget than your password.

Since I work in the graphics industry, I was really impressed with the 3D scanner technology from www.real3d.com. You sit in front of a camera, and it takes a 3D picture of you (it can also work on inanimate objects). You have to take several "pictures" to get a 360-degree view, but it really works. The company will be shipping a new version of the product in January. It will cost only $8,000. Compare that to the $50,000 typically charged for comparable technology offered last year.

I was really impressed with the new computer and accessory designs at the show. We've suffered for years with boring, corporate computers, and now things are really starting to look interesting. I guess we have to give Apple credit for starting the trend that everyone is now trying to ride on, creating wonderful designs for amazing devices. I was really impressed with the Qbe tablet computer, which even includes a CD and digital camera. You can walk around your house or office, working on a computer less than an inch thick.

Finally, portable MP3 players were everywhere. They are all priced around the $200 range, and can only hold about two hours of music, but they are getting really small. Sony even showed one that is the size of a large pen! I would love to find one of these under my Christmas tree this year.

Be sure to visit the DACS Web site to see the photo tour of Comdex. If you get a chance, visit the more than 1 million square feet of exhibits yourself. You're sure to find something interesting from one of the 2,000 vendors.