What is Comdex?

Comdex is the universal IT marketplace that unites technology buyers and sellers online and in person. While continuing global expansion and influence, Comdex is steadily refining its customer-centric philosophy by segmenting and personalizing everything from the exhibit floor to conference content to encourage community development, making it easier for buyers and sellers to meet and make smarter purchasing decisions.

Engaging conferences, potent keynotes, exciting special events, an exhibit floor with cutting-edge technology solutions, a comprehensive online presence and timely show publications are components of the community-driven Comdex experience, creating more relevancy for the individual and facilitating valuable relationships between technology buyers from around the world.

That definition came from Comdex, and it says a lot just to say that it is a yearly IT trade show, where nearly anybody who make anything even remotely connected to a computer is often present to show off their stuff to the public. Unlike Macworld conventions, where the focus is on Appleis consumer and pro line of computers, Comdex is not suppose to focus on any one technology or company; instead the focus is on exposing the latest wares any company has to offer. Apple could attend a Comdex and has in the past.

This year, Bill Gates of Microsoft offered a keynote, as he is wont to do, though he showed more than just new products. Part of his presentation was a movie that is more than loosely based on The Matrix where he and Microsoft CEO, Steve Ballmer battle evil, otherwise known as Linux, by using Windows Longhorn.

This was first brought to our attention by a series of 40 or so photographs of the keynote published by TabletPCTalk.com.

To see the full size images, visit the TabletPCTalk.com Web site. The Comdex Web site has also published a couple of screen shots of the movie. For those wishing to view the movie in its entirety, including the rest of Bill Gatesis keynote address, ZDNet.com is hosting the entire thing; you can view a clip or watch the full video for US$2.95.

Note: To view the videos at ZDNet.com you must have Windows Media Player version 9. There is an OS X version and it is a free download.