Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10.2 9/18/84; site dual.UUCP Path: utzoo!linus!philabs!cmcl2!seismo!lll-crg!mordor!dual!mats From: mats@dual.UUCP (Mats Wichmann) Newsgroups: net.graphics Subject: Dvorak and SIGGRAPH (rather long) Message-ID: <1063@dual.UUCP> Date: Tue, 30-Jul-85 20:42:30 EDT Article-I.D.: dual.1063 Posted: Tue Jul 30 20:42:30 1985 Date-Received: Thu, 1-Aug-85 20:45:56 EDT Distribution: net Organization: Dual Systems, Berkeley, CA Lines: 89 First off, this is a copyright infringement, so if this sort of stuff bothers you, forget you ever saw this posting. I felt that some of the comment in this article are worth dispersing beyond the range normally likely to be reached by the media this appeared in. This is: John Dvorak's column (`Periscope') from the San Fransisco Examiner, Sunday, July 28. I happen to agree with most of what he says, having wasted quite a bit of time at this show (fortunately only the company's money). From here on the words are his: Mats Wichmann Dual Systems ...{ucbvax,ihnp4,cbosgd,decwrl,fortune}!dual!mats ... ... ... ... PRETENTIOUSNESS AT COMPUTER GRAPHICS SHOW. This reporter has covered a lot of trade shows over the years and none approaches last week's SIGGRAPH '85 for sheer gall and arrogance. Held at Moscone Center last week, it was supposed to be the definitive computer graphics show, showcasing the best in the industry. SIGGRAPH '85, sponsored by the Association for Computing Machinery, stands for "Special Interest Group for Graphics," a part of ACM. While it is every regard a trade show, it costs an outrageous $420 to attend. It's kind of like subscribing to a pay TV channel that show only commercials. Sure, for the $420 you got to attend "educational" sessions where unpaid speakers promote their ideas and products, you didn't have to pay an extra three bucks to see the art exhibit, and you didn't have to spend $25 to the SIGGRAPH '85 film. What a deal. If you just want to wander through the exhibits and nothing else, you can get in for $15. On the floor were hundreds of companies with expensive graphics hardware, most of which can do little more than, for example, draw an outline of the space shuttle and move it around on the screen. While local companies - such as Cubicomp, Beck-Tech, Island Graphics and Sun - had cost-effective advanced products, most of the vendors showcased the same stuff they had a couple of years ago. "We had 16 million colors and 1024 x 1024 pixel resolution years ago. So what's new here?" asked Joe DeCaro, president of Seattle Telecom. "This industry needs a Woz and Jobs to dynamite those dunderheads into the future," one show goer told me. Computer graphics people don't see themselves as dunderheads. They turn up their noses at computer designers, computer programmers, systems guys and end users. They view themselves as the creme de la creme of the computer industry. The computer graphics person is an artiste. An they dress and act it, too. "I've never run into so many rude and arrogant people," said Becky O'Malley of Berkeley System Works. After last Tuesday's show, the ACM gave itself a reception in an art gallery established within the show. I don't know whether this was the worst reception in history. I haven't been to every reception ever given. The gallery was supposed to showcase the best computer art in the world. With the exception of a few three-dimensional works and some laser art, most of the stuff stunk. "There's not much real artistic innovation here," said Steve Beck of Beck-Tech. "This is the same kind of so-called art the Leroy Neiman did on TV for the 1980 Olympics," said DeCaro. Leroy Neiman? None of his stuff was there, but it would have fit right in. He too would have fit right in with this crowd. If you asked someone a question about anything, the typical answer was "You DON'T KNOW? Hmmmph!" This nose-in-the-air foolishness pervaded both the reception and the show. The biggest fiasco of the show was the showing of the 2 1/2-hour SIGGRAPH '85 film. In a mad rush reminiscent of a feeding frenzy, all the seats were sold out last Sunday during pre-registration- much to the dismay of many of the 30,000 show-goers, some of whom came from halfway around the world. It didn't help that instead of running this always popular film all day every day, the organizers showed it only twice. So what if you came from Stuttgart just to see it.