Now that we have just wrapped up 1990, we can take a look back at Comdex with a bit more perspective. Comdex reminds me of Christmas in a lot of ways. What else can describe the largest computer people gathering in the world, except for overwhelming and incredible? After a week of the common programmer folk mingling with vendors, hoping for a glance of Spencer Katt or Jim Seymour or John Dvorak, we could not help but be filled with that "We made it through another year!" feeling. Glad to have gone, but content for another year with new innovations and enlightenment.

Actually, the best discoveries about the future products of companies could be determined in the simple booth layouts themselves. As soon as spectators walked into the Las Vegas Convention Center's main floor, they were swamped with a looming navy blue Microsoft sign gloriously illuminated with lights that grabbed your attention more than a neon firestorm would have. Of course, the eager Microsoft vendors were offering kudos and praise for their multiple high powered computers running Windows 3.0, while a lone, sad machine in the corner was fawning OS/2 in the background like a debutante who was all dressed up but somehow had missed the grand ball.

Some vendors' presentations and products were just not exciting. I love Borland's Quattro Pro version 1.0 spreadsheet, but I don't want to upgrade to version 2.0 for a few enhanced presentation capabilities when I know their Windows version is coming out (hopefully) in the first quarter of the year. Even if I wasn't going to a Windows environment, version 2.0 just seems like a meager upgrade. That's okay in itself, but let's be honest and call it version 1.1 instead. Borland also disappointed me with Turbo Pascal. I have been around Borland's flagship programming language from version 3.0, 4.0, then 5.0, and finally on to version 5.5 for the highly touted object oriented language extensions that I still have not used. Now they want another hundred dollars for 6.0 when a Windows upgrade is due later this year. No thanks, I'll wait this one out as well. And finally, my last complaint (and I really do like Borland products -- I use Quattro Pro and Turbo Pascal), when is Paradox going to be able to read standard database file formats (DBF) that are read by dBASE III+ compatible database products? Disappointing.

Fox Software impressed me a great deal, naturally, since I am an avid FoxPro enthusiast. Foxpro 2.0, the successor to FoxPro 1.02 and dBASE IV (if any of you are actually using Ashton Tate's new database product), will give you a reason to upgrade to an 80386 machine. On an 80286 PC, the new FoxPro will only be able to use the first 64K of expanded memory for extra data space. However, when the new FoxPro starts on an 80386 or 80486 PC, it will automatically run in extended memory up to 16M of RAM for variables, windows, strings, and even compiled libraries in C or assembly language. You may not need such large amount of memory today, but remember, nobody thought we would have to break that 640K ceiling, either. Many features built into FoxPro will now be available for applications programs as well, such as text buttons and check boxes. This will allow FoxPro applications to be more "Mac like" and intuitive. So if you don't have a mouse, now is the time to get one. If you have been using dBASE III+, dBASE IV, Paradox, or Clipper and have not seen a graphical database management environment, this is a time to take our Introduction to FoxPro class at the Microcomputer Support Center!

Who was the choice vendor? Who was the group that attracted our interest more than the rest? None other than WordPerfect, of course. Most of you have probably used some version of their flagship word processor at one time or another, but the people from Utah were also quite impressive with their drawing program. DrawPerfect allows you to customize WordPerfect's existing graphics on the fly or to make your own. For those of you using WordPerfect's graphics in your documents, this program is a must. They also demonstrated the already familiar updated features of WordPerfect version 5.1, including new handling of tabs, table creation, the equation editor, improved graphics importing ability, and the capability to further define WordPerfect's default settings through setup. We were hoping to get a glimpse of the new WordPerfect for Windows, but alas, that was reserved for the Comdex attendees in the inner circle of importance, and that was not us. But the real reason everyone wanted to see WordPerfect, was because they gave away superb mouse pads to everyone, and actual software to about ten lucky attendees per demonstration. As if that was not enough, the generous geniuses from Utah offered everyone neat looking white fedora hats that made mild mannered programmers feel like Indiana Jones! After that, we were looking for bull whips and some sort of precious artifacts to recover from the craps and black jack tables.

Sometimes technology can really make us happy. I am not talking about having cold feet every night and then running to Nordstroms or Bullocks to get that much needed electric blanket. I am talking about getting things to print the way you want them to, in a crisp, clear, and as good as the eye can tell format. For those blessings, Hewlett Packard graced us with their wonderful LaserJet III products. For those of you using the LaserJet II or IID, the LaserJet III and IIID are more of the same. Better printing resolution, an enhanced featured printer control language (PCL 5), same speed at 8 pages per minutes, and a reasonable price. A LaserJet III with 3 Megabytes of RAM, enough memory to print complex pages with various fonts and graphics, runs about $2000 if you shop around. Hewlett Packard, besides having comfortable purple chairs to sit in while you viewed their song and dance demonstration, offered Windows 3.0 users free font improvement upgrades that will let the new Windows take advantage of the LaserJet III family's enhanced printing resolution. This, and the complementary purple mouse pads were more than we humbly expected.

At this point in our lives, after having our bags stuffed with buttons, pens, posters, product information sheets, mugs, and of course, mouse pads, it took something spectacular to pull us into a booth. Toshiba did just that with their new color laptop computers, first with the T5200C, and then with the extremely impressive T3200SXC. We first saw the T5200C, which has 16 color LCD, and seemed designed specifically with Windows in mind. The laptop with its color VGA display and the increased capacity hard drive of 200 Megabytes was a welcome sight indeed. The Toshiba gurus informed us that the T5200C had the same quality features of its younger brother, the T5200, including a 20 MHz 80386 microprocessor, 2 Megabytes of RAM, a 3-1/2" floppy drive, and a full length 16 bit slot and a half length 8-bit expansion slot. However, the passive-matrix LCD used by Toshiba can only display 16 colors simultaneously at a resolution of 640 by 480 pixels. For graphics presentations, such as those created by Microsoft PowerPoint, that is unfortunately not enough. Comparable desktop monitors can display 256 colors simultaneously, and have no problem with color shading that the T5200C does. Toshiba anticipated a user's need for even better resolution, and provided an answer with the outstanding T3200SXC. The T3200SXC uses active-matrix LCD and displays 256 colors in a 320 by 200 pixel resolution. It is sharp, crisp, and had a "this looks like my desktop monitor" feel to it. You didn't have the sideways glare or the bleeding edges normally associated with LCD technology. Of course, with active matrix technology, you will not have any privacy on planes. The people next to you will have no trouble reading your screen from an angle. Concluding with Toshiba, we had explored Comdex thoroughly.

What technology will next year bring?