COMDEX was neither underwhelming nor overwhelming. After all was said and done, I felt pretty whelmed. Some said that this was the smallest one “ever” – which is erroneous. I believe that the market has shifted in favor of the consumer, and since most companies, marketers, and media analysts have their heads up each others asses, its still-present significance has been downplayed. Everybody's talking mobile. Everybody's talking wireless. Everybody's talking solutions that can be implemented tomorrow. That, in my opinion, is a refreshing change (and one not to be overlooked). I wasn't there for long, though. I came with Leo to speak at a User's Group confab courtesy of Microsoft. They showed us Windows Media Player 9 and the Windows Movie Maker 2.0 beta 2. Nothing that I hadn't seen before, but it was still sweet to see on the big screen.

As far as trends go, there were far more interesting products coming from overseas (Korea, Hong Kong, France, etc.). Plus, their booth bodies were friendlier and far more receptive to my questions than Americans. Yes, it's true – and rather disconcerting. I just picked up the G3, right? Well, I ran into the Canon digital camera booth near (or in?) the Microsoft pavilion. “Hey Canon guys! Turn around so I can take your picture with my new G3!” I thought it would be kinda nifty to show y'all. One of them glanced over his shoulder, looked at me holding the camera, and then went back to work. I snapped picture one. “Hey Canon guys! I'm trying to take your picture with my new G3!” They both ignored me completely this time around, and I'd like to show the world (and Canon, for that matter) how much their representatives truly care about their customers. Hrm… maybe I chose the wrong camera after all?

Due to last minute rescheduling, I had to head out Monday at Midnight to make it home in time for Tuesday's show. I left directly from the Orleans hotel, where I spoke to a gathering of PC User Group leaders with Leo Laporte (courtesy of Microsoft). The venue wasn't too bad, and it may make a great location for Gnomedex III. The hotel is far enough away from the strip that it may be cost effective for us to do. Now that Lori's returned from the other side of the planet, we're ready to talk turkey and get that sucker scheduled. Naturally, we have to settle on an event coordinator first. Right now, we're trying to decide between the old Pets.com sock puppet and some random gal who used to date our mail carrier. There has to be a more qualified person out there! Well, there is – but we can't go near him due to the restraining order.