Comdex 96
COMDEX 96 happened in Las Vegas, and George and MJ were there.
TUESDAY morning, the first order of business was the User Group breakfast
at the Stardust hotel. This is an annual event put on by (drum-roll please)
the one and only Richard Katz. Richard always does a superior job organizing
and MC'ing this event, and this year was no exception.
The setting was the Stardust Conference room and it was full to capacity
with eager Quicken users from all across the country.
The most amazing production demonstration was delivered by Richard's half-brother Matt.
He taught us all about Atomic Clock and had us ready to run out and buy this fine product.
Then
Richard did his best Steve Pelletier imitation and demo'ed all of
Quicken Financial Planner in just 7 minutes.
Scott Cook spoke and then took questions. We were hoping for an encore
helium balloon/donald duck performance like last year, but it didn't happen.
THEN it was on to the convention center, walking around checking out all the
latest, greatest technology this business has to offer.
The show didn't seem quite as packed as last year, but there were still bezillions
of people there checking it out.
WE also saw this
ibm-pc thing on display. I don't think it will
ever catch on, but it was interesting.
[this is the original 8086 PC w/monochrome monitor- we've come a ways in the last 12
years- ed]
TUESDAY night,
the Micrografix Chile cookoff happened.
This is an annual, invitation-only charity event where all the proceeds are donated to
the Center for Missing and Exploited Children. All the participating companies set up
chile booths around the runway at the UNLV athletic center. Then all attendees get to
walk around and sample the chile concoctions and vote on which is best.
Plus, all the companies are selling stuff to raise money. There's a variety of products to
spend your money on, including software, stuffed animals, t-shirts, aprons, bandanas,
fake tatoos, etc... you get the picture. It's a great cause and a good time for all.
INTUIT's theme this year
was Atomic Chile. Our first customer must have liked it because he just sat there all
night waving his Quicken flag and talking to people.
Intuit's contribution to the cause was boxes and boxes of QWin, and we were blowing it out
at $10 and $20 all night long. All told, Intuit raised over $4000!
GEORGE and MJ also got to
meet with Dr. Ruth Westheimer and get her autograph and some sage advice.
THEN things
started to really boogie.
The live entertainment for the evening was provided by BTO (that's Bachman-Turner
Overdrive for all you kids out there...) and by the Village People, shown here in full
battle regalia.
The floor was packed with dancers; and the groups held everyone's attention for 2 hours.
The Village People did YMCA as their encore song and brought the house down.
BUT wait- the evening was just starting.
Thanks to Scott Cook, both George and MJ wound up with all-access passes so they got into
the
Micrografix party that was happening downstairs at the Convention Center.
The food was awesome, including pasta, shrimp, london broil sandwiches, cheesecake,
blintzes, etc...
and there was an open bar and a special bar where all they served was Absolut vodka- they
actually
had all the different kinds there and you could sample all of them.
Several other Intuit-ites also made it into the
party. Here's Linda, Christina, Marcella, Chuck and George before mass quantities of
Absolut.
THE new
thing you know, BTO and the Village People show up at the party!
Here's MJ with part of the village people.
AROUND 1am, the
party broke up. Chuck lead us to The Beach next, a knock-down, drag out dance club that
looked like something out of Mad Max. Chuck was feeling kind of down because he hadn't
seen his woman in 6 weeks, so george gave him a big hug and then he felt better...(or is
that Linda behind the mask?)
Anyhow, we all took cabs home and were fast asleep before sunrise and another happening
day at Comdex.