The nerd has flown

Another Macworld is come and gone, and yours truly is back in the Arid Zone with his family, recuperating from a week of sensory overload and insane pricing structures.

Going to Macworld was a bit of a gamble, since last year’s Expo was the iPod Accessory Show, which would have pretty much been a complete waste of time for me.

Fortunately, it turns out the Mac ecosystem is very much alive and well, and there were a ton of unexpected products at the show. Along with the big names—the Microsofts, Adobes, and Kensingtons of the world—there were a lot of smaller developers with interesting products. I was glad to see the variety, and glad to see most of the exhibitors seemed to have a lot of interest at their booths.

Which brings me to the crowds. If you’ve read this blog for a while, you know I’m not a huge crowd person. And wow, there was enough of a crush to make Elton John feel uncomfortable. Tons of exhibitors, tons of people, tons of activity—this Macworld had a great vibe of excitement and possibility. It was a booster shot for the whole community.

But enough general reporting. What did yours truly do? There were a lot of parties and general debauchery surrounding the show, and I actually dragged myself to a few of them. Great locations with great DJs that spun a lot of really cool tunes loud enough that I couldn’t hear anything. That’s how those parties worked out. But, hey, beer.

There’s an old saying that you know how well a political movement is going by how many pretty girls there are at the meetings. By that metric, the Mac ecosystem is doing very well indeed. The parties were mobbed by the kind of people who go to parties, not the kind of people who enjoy talking about software releases, to put it mildly. But hey, that’s a good sign, right?

All in all, it was worth going, it was extremely tiring, and I’m really glad to be back home.