Unix is getting its very own trade show again, because vendors are apparently finding industry behemoths such as Comdex, PC Expo and Networld+InterOp, or even boutique events such as Comdex Enterprise, too untargeted for their event dollars. It’s no coincidence that the news goes hand in hand with the boilerplate of the week which should probably read ‘Unix is back’; and renewed talk of ‘open systems.’ UniForum, the US Unix association – albeit a somewhat different organization to the one which operated during Unix’s glory days in the 1980s – has put its name to a Wide Open World Open Systems Computing Conference & Expo to be held between April 27 and 29 next year in Washington DC. Chicago’s Professional Event Management Inc – wherein lies remnants of Pemco, the company which promoted the first every UniForum show in 1984 – is staging the event. The event is unabashedly a Unix, Linux and cross-platform development affair it’s not Windows NT and it’s not internet, said UniForum Association president Alan Fedder. He expects UniForum members including Sun, HP, IBM, Intel, Compaq, SCO, NCR, Red Hat and others to exhibit. Decus is also said to be lending its support. The last UniForum show as in 1996. Softbank Comdex Inc pulled the plug on a 1997 event due to lack of interest. The last Unix Expo was in 1996. WOW’s conference program will include sessions on usable telecommunications, smart clothing, data mining over the internet, high performance computing, Millennium, open systems methodology, cross-platform programming and more.
