MacWorld is taking place this week, and I must say, I'm already bored. it was nice to see Ian, and there were some interesting things to see, but overall, the smaller size and less interresting Apple offerings (no movie iPod? No portable G5?) made for a significantly less exciting show, for me. This would be my sixth SF MacWorld, and every year the same deluge of hot-headed Mac nuts shuffle through, staring at each others badges and mentally placing each other on a large ladder of Mac coolness. the highest rung is reserved for Apple emplyee badges and Apple VIP badges, though the latter is slightly less exciting since it is sometimes given to school representatives flown in as an enticement for keeping Macs in their respective systems.
For me, the most excciting thing is to see the archetypes. Lots of these exist within the MacWorld mileau. There's the kid who's too cool for his folks, often wearing Hot Topic's latest and greatest. The mother or father always leads the way, and while the kid is obviously a Mac geek just like his or her parent, the kid's always trying to look like the whole event is incredibly boring.
then there's the mother daughter or father son pairs that are completely in concert on their geeky bliss at coming into the city to see all the beautiful Apple stuff. Often, it seems as though the child is skipping school for the first time ever, and the parent has called in sick specifically for this event. They oo and ah at everything and find all boothes to be equally intriguing.
The hidden celebrity is always present as well. Typically, these folks are of the C-list and has-been variety. MC Hammer and Sinbad always come out for this event. Others were likely present, but with only one day's viewing under my belt I couldn't find too many. But then, I can't usually recognize people in movies, let alone on the street.
Then there's the scene icon. wherever he goes, the crowd parts and lets him through. Clingers approach and inquire about all manner of things. People like Peter Cohen, The GameRanger dude, and a host of others I can't identify fall into this category. These are the guys who've held up their end of the Mac advocacy bargain by writing software, books, and articles that keep the insiders abuzz.
Finally, there are the booth drones. These are typically the marketing guys from the larger companies, or the software engineers at the smaller ones. As I wandered oout of the conference, I passed a herd of these fellows exiting Jillians from their lunch break. I forget their company, but they all wore the same corporate-issue collared shirts with their logo above the right nipple. At once upon exiting the bar/restaurant, all five pulled out cigarettes and lit up.
My sentiments exactly