Smau plus

I hadn't been there for years. But my father's invitation pleased me. Also to spend a day together

So here we are in Milan early in the morning. Smau? empty. Really empty. In some pavilions there is an echo. Then a few people arrive. The consumer area fills up. But other halls remain half-empty.

(Apple where are you...?)

Then the day heats up and I feel like I'm seeing the Smau crowds of a few years ago again.

(Adobe where are you...? Ah, there you are: tiny little thing in a dark, empty corner...)

But thinking back on it this evening, coldly, the impression was that the stands where you could touch the products were crowded, and the ones where you could only see words or little more were empty. The exceptions were the crowds in front of the stands where gadgets were given away.

(Macromedia where are you?)

New items? Nothing that caught my attention. Almost all of it already seen. At least online.

No Apple; not even a shadow of Macromedia; Microsoft downsized its stand; Adobe, again, in the corner; Ibm, on the other hand, had a stand so big it looked emptier than it was.

At about half past three we finished our tour and headed home.

This really could be the last Smau: an event that, as it is, perhaps no longer makes much sense. It would take something to fill the gaps that the internet leaves: once upon a time, people went to the fair to see new things; nowadays, they already come with a good deal of information. Putting products on the stands so that they can be seen and touched?