I attended my first Comdex in 1983. In those days everyone knew Comdex was just shorthand for the show's real name, Computer Dealers' Exhibition. The idea was that buyers for retail stores and chains would get together to check out the year's crop of microcomputers and negotiate deals to carry the new products in their stores. Displaying a stamina I can only marvel at today, I walked every mile of carpeted Comdex aisles and conducted editorial business with every relevant vendor. Vendors and industry celebrities threw extravagant parties, sometimes on the spur of the moment.
Constant change is here to stay Much has changed over the years.
The computer industry has become too big and profitable for a single conference. Now there are specialized conferences for users of particular hardware, operating environments, programming languages, and iMac colors. I no longer attend every Comdex. It seems to me that specialized, highly focused shows have pulled away many of the most interesting classes of products that used to be shown at Comdex. What's left is mostly monitors, writable CD drives, and ergonomic furniture.