Usenix versus Uniforum

Evan Leibovitch evan at telly.on.ca
Tue Dec 11 11:28:47 AEST 1990


In article <THOTH.90Dec9144758 at reef.cis.ufl.edu> thoth at reef.cis.ufl.edu (Gilligan) writes:

>  Ah, but there are more trinkets/m^2 at Uniforum than at usenix (and
>even more at the usenix IBM hospitality suite :).

Not necessarily.

At the IBM hospitality suite in Washington, I picked up an ice scraper
(REAL handy for Texans and Californians), elastic key chain, paper clip
holder, pocket scissors, and I'm sure there's one or two I've missed.

At Uniforum, let's see...

Condoms at the Elan booth;
Crystal balls from Intel;
Pocket screwdrivers, coasters and strange pens everywhere;
Buttons with slogans like "Honey I shrunk the Cray";
Chocolate bars at Amdahl;
A UNIX wizard poster from Unitech;
Tons of plastic bookmarks from Unix World;
Albino (pure white) floppy disks from Compaq;
Your picture on the cover of a "newspaper" at Unisys;
Cheap (but cute) fedora hats at Unisys.
Long-necked, gold-trimmed coffee mugs at SCO;
The OSF was giving away cameras to people spotted wearing their buttons;
etc...

Parties? IMHO, the annual Uniforum bash thrown by SCO must certainly
rival the Usenix gala. In Washington SCO rented a whole museum for its
bash. The one thrown for Uniforum members is alsmost as good.

Of course, nobody at Uniforum had the selection of foreign beers
available at Usenix...

>  How come everyone "gives" away T-shirts ("gives" because you often
>have to listen to a speech about a product that GNU has had a better
>version of for years) but no shorts, jeans, overcoats or sneakers.  I
>have a million free T-shirts, but never have I been given a pair of
>sneakers.  (insert indignant snort)

T-shirts at shows are usually only offered in two sizes -- too large or too
small. For shoes, shorts, they'd have to stock more different sizes that
wouldn't fit you. Besides, t-shirts offer the giver more space to
plaster their message than shoes would.

Overcoats? You might need to go to Comdex for those...

-- 
Evan Leibovitch, Sound Software, located in beautiful Brampton, Ontario
     evan at telly.on.ca / uunet!attcan!telly!evan / (416) 452-0504
      Keep an open mind -- you'll never know what might fall in.



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