> Date: Thu, 1 Jul 2004 13:01:26 -0500 > From: Erik Anderson <erikerik at gmail.com> > I attended one of these a few years ago and IMHO it was a complete waste > of time...just a bunch of mom & pop-type booths selling crappy recycled > computer equipment and what looked like pirated software...to me it > seemed like most of the people that were there were not the type that > would really care to hear about linux. I don't mean to be defeatist - > but this is just the feeling that I got. Maybe they''ve improved the > shows in the last few years. > > Has anyone else had a different experience at one of the Super Computer > Shows? After going to a few of these, I generally regard them as a waste of time and money. - Bluestar charges a hefty admission just to get in the door. Apparently, they are not content to charge the vendors. - While there are local vendors, most are not local. If you have a problem with an item, you have to go through the mail, which is no better than buying from a web site. - Software is available with questionable licensing. OEM and academic licensed software is available cheap. Not a war crime, but makes me feel like it should be in a plain brown wrapper. - Merchandise is generally cheap, poorly made junk... but inexpensive. I suppose the only good reason to go is to buy a used laptop so you can try it out and get a pretty good selection. But there are local used laptop stores too. (Que Computers has pretty good prices.) If you want to patronize local shops, go to their stores and save the admission fee. If you want low price, shop on the Internet and save sales tax. There's just no good reason to go. MHO, Chris Schumann _______________________________________________ TCLUG Mailing List - Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota Help beta test TCLUG's potential new home: http://plone.mn-linux.org Got pictures for TCLUG? Beta test http://plone.mn-linux.org/gallery tclug-list at mn-linux.org https://mailman.real-time.com/mailman/listinfo/tclug-list