Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!sun-barr!decwrl!limbo!taylor From: taylor@limbo.Intuitive.Com (Dave Taylor) Newsgroups: comp.org.usenix Subject: Re: Usenix versus Uniforum Message-ID: <1537@limbo.Intuitive.Com> Date: 10 Dec 90 08:14:47 GMT References: <447@camco.Celestial.COM> <12103@hubcap.clemson.edu> Reply-To: taylor@limbo.Intuitive.Com (Dave Taylor) Organization: Intuitive Systems, Mountain View, CA: +1 (415) 966-1151 Lines: 47 > How come everyone "gives" away T-shirts ... but never have I been given > a pair of sneakers. (insert indignant snort) Well, I've at least gotten some nifty Sun Microsystem sneaker laces! > down with booth-babes It's a funny thing, that... I talked with one of the models hired by Toshiba at COMDEX about the situation and she reported the sad fact that when a "model" is in the booth, the number of visitors visibly increases. At TriGem, for example, the company with the SPARC laptop (*) their head of PR told me that when the woman who posed on their literature (their accountant, btw) (really!) was in the booth, the line of men who wanted to have her sign their pamphlets snaked completely around the booth. Only once have I ever seen a male model at a show, and that was the GamePro magazine (a publication of IDG) "GamePro" character at the last Consumer Electronics Show; he was a well built man in garish yellow tights. He seemed uncomfortable and no-one seemed to care much... I don't like the idea of having attractive people hired to work a booth just to draw customers in, but it's a sad fact that it not only works, it works pretty damn well too. Check it out for yourself at the next trade show you attend...and ask the attractive people if they actually work for the companies or not... Finally, I'll simply add my voice to the comments about Usenix and UniForum being complimentary organizations; I look to Usenix, both the conferences and publications, to push the edges of the technical information envelope in Unix and Unix related topics. UniForum is the "two years later" place, where I can see products, read about customer/user experience, and get the other half of the R&D coin. If you're interested in how things are used as well as how they work, I would strongly advise you join both organizations. I've been an active member of both for quite a few years now. -- Dave Taylor Intuitive Systems Contributing Editor, "CommUNIXations" Mountain View, California (a publication of the UniForum Assoc.) taylor@limbo.intuitive.com or {uunet!}{decwrl,apple}!limbo!taylor (*) Please see 'SunTech Journal', 'SunExpert' or 'The Sun Observer' for more information! RDI Computer Corp, the makers of the machine that TriGem will be distributing, can be reached at (619) 944-6381; they're located in San Diego. Don't send me mail on this subject! :-)