Written February 2008
by Cliff Feldwick
Not that long ago, there was an annual computer show in Vegas called Comdex. A vast array it was (or so I’m told – I never could quite justify going out for a week in the wilds of Nevada on the premise of looking at “work”), taking over multiple hotels and convention sites and infusing what must be America’s strangest town with a bunch of stranger people. Believe me – no one is more weird, on a pound to pound basis, than computer people. Anyway, it was where little companies went to be discovered and major vendors went to discover (and buy) them. It was a mouse replacement that was shaped like a dolphin and reacted to your hand movements – much like some game controllers out now, but eight years ago. It was the always unending promise of voice software that would let you dictate into Word Perfect (in those days) and produce your novel in three days, demonstrated by people who could make it dance and sing like you never ever could when you got it home. It was the place where you went to find vendors of low-price video cards, networks that worked (maybe) over your home electrical system, and Mercedes dealers offering the soon-to-be millionaires rides down the strip. It was, in short, a zoo.
In 2004, it collapsed, a victim of the dot-bomb implosion. Despite the cries of “we will rise again”, it never has. Oh, there are large conferences, even in Vegas, but they have weird names like Interop, and they’re full of large vendors doing seminars on security and voice over IP. Boring, even with after-hours “booth crawls”. Even NSA is there, probably recruiting. Just not the same as the freewheeling, guy-with-a-booth-in-the-corner-blowing-the-big-names-out-of-the-water feel.
I write of this because the Consumer Electronics Show has just ended in Vegas. Computers have certainly taken their place as a consumer item, and are often priced that way with rolling discounts and loss leaders. But what computer news came out at the show was certainly lost next to 150 inch plasma TV’s and smarter cell phones and even a bed with built-in stereo, projection TV (aimed over the headboard) and technology that senses the vibrations caused by snoring, thus raising the head area in an attempt to clear the sleeper’s throat passages. Maybe that could be improved by having the top part of the bed snap shut over the head of the snorer, but I digress. Having more sleek laptops with some faster processors and leather-wrapped cases is not going to make this a computer show.
Maybe the Apple fanatics are right, and we’ll all have to go to Macworld to see new things. Except, of course, one of the biggest things to come out of Steve Jobs keynote speech at Macworld was iTunes movie rentals ($3.99 for 24 hours, but you can transfer it to your iPhone from your computer, if you really like to squint). So entertainment, rather than computing, seems to be this year’s big trend.
CompUSA – it lives?
In what may be a mixed blessing, Systemax – owner of Tiger Direct – has bought the CompUSA brand, it’s e-commerce business and up to 16 of its stores (but none around here). Tiger Direct has always been known as a force in the internet sales business, but with a large and well-documented history of problems with actually ever sending the rebates it highlights so often in its “low prices” advertising.
There are better internet sellers out there, notably Newegg, but all of them lack the “let’s take a look at this” advantage of an actual store with actual merchandise on display. Sure, many times the under-paid employees didn’t know all that much, but you could check features and maybe find something that worked, whereas reading “reviews” on the online sellers sites is mainly an exercise in wading through superlatives. Like the old saying of “when everything’s a crisis, then nothing is”, then when everything is just so wonderfully super-great, then nothing really can be trusted.
Dell creeps into more retail
Dell keeps expanding its offerings through retail outlets, now by offering certain models through Best Buy. Just like the deal with Staples, however, the scope is limited and customization is virtually nil. For instance, all the Best Buy units come preloaded with Vista, and usually the home version. Still (and probably never) as good as XP for businesses, or people who don’t like “getting the bugs out”. Yes, Vista has been around for over a year now, and it still sucks. Just an opinion, of course.
So here’s the quandary: while I lament the inability to look at things and do a little tire-kicking of buying through websites, it’s still the only real way to go to Dell or HP and get a true business-class unit. So do it.
Cliff Feldwick is president of Riverside Computer Consultants, and does networking, data retrieval and troubleshooting for small businesses, when not wondering why anyone looks at movies on a 4” screen. He can be reached at 410-880-0171 or at cliff@feldwick.com.