I agree with Tao Tan that this year's TCF was disappointing. It's not only the economy and the dot-com bust but also saturation of computer shows and sales outlets. There is a computer show in the region practically every weekend.
In earlier years of TCF, TCF was THE place to go for good computer deals and hard-to-find techie items. People would save up for the May shows and buy lots of techno goodies. Now, people will quickly go to the Internet and look for bargains or they'll go to the CompUSA and Best Buys. (Not knocking it. I just bought an LCD monitor at BB this morning so I won't have to lug the conventional monitor to the meetings. I didn't find any good deals on the LCD monitors on Sunday at TCF.) The flea market was also getting skimpier. SOme of the good vendors I dealt with last year did not show up. It is a shame because TCF has been a great instituion for computing all these years. (It has also given me some speaking opportunities to keep in the circulation.) But I don't believe it is a particular fault of the TCF organizers. It's more of a matter of trends in computing and economy. By the way shout outs of thanks to Jerry and the other people who came to my presentation. I wish I could have known that it would have a lot of Linux users in the audience so I would have skipped all that Windows stuff. J.D. Abolins
