Stories about: Comdex

Before CES, Macworld Expo, Comdex, or Computex, game-changing inventions often made their public debut at the World's Fair. Since the London World Exposition of 1851, this celebration of culture and science has introduced countless marvels to the masses. Think the Statue of Liberty, the Eiffel Tower, rocket ships, the steam engine, futuristic concept cars; even electricity. Here we'll focus on ideas that shaped some of the tech products and entertainment we enjoy today

Microsoft's demonstration Wednesday of "Slate PCs" made by HP, Pegatron, and Archos is by no means its first attempt to help develop such a form factor. The Slate PC seems to be identical to a Tablet with only the name changed. In fact, the Tablet PC has long been a pet project for Microsoft founder Bill Gates, who showed the first Tablet PC prototype in 2000 at the now-defunct Comdex trade show in Las Vegas.

Intel just came to the same conclusion about Vista that so many of you enterprise IT leaders have made. From Steve Lohr at the New York Times came the delicious tidbit this week: Intel will pass on upgrading most of its employees' PCs to Microsoft Vista. They're going to stick with Windows XP, having found no compelling reason to upgrade to Vista on a large scale.

Microsoft co-founder and Chairman Bill Gates has been giving keynote speeches at Las Vegas conventions, including the Consumer Electronics Show and the now-defunct Comdex, for decades. Before his last CES keynote speech as a full-time company employee, he talked with the IDG News Service about his legacy as an innovator, the background behind some of the deals announced at CES this week and directions for Microsoft.

In the US, economic woes and a downturn in IT spending have put CIOs firmly in the driver's seat when they're dealing with vendors. Also the rising competitive temperature makes vendors all the more interested in hearing what customers and potential customers have to say. Do local IT CIOs wield similar power? Kind of. Sort of. Maybe . .

Find out why the PC endures - and how you can capitalise on its continued dominance.

US Internet stocks take a beating ... COMDEX: Ignore the Linux hype, Torvalds urges ... Employers neglect users' training demands ... ASIC appoints cybercop ... Compaq to stick with Pfeiffer strategy -- Barth ... Beware the statute of limitations of Y2K lawsuits: lawyer ... USO claim closer to $600 million: ACA says ... Compaq results "disappointing, unacceptable" ... Senators urge NATO to not lose sight of Y2K ... Global call centre revenue to reach $4bn by 2005: Ovum ... Oz company selected for domain name trial run ... Fahey sets the record straight on IT outsourcing ... IT delivery: 'just not cricket' ... Old switches, routers pose Y2K threat ... Microsoft: Windows 98 has three more Y2K holes

To build a replica of 15th century Venice in record time, architects used 21st century technology.

Computerworld associate publisher Steve Ireland gives you the lowdown on Comdex