The Seventh Annual PC Expo was held at the McCormick Place North on October 27-29, 1992. There were over 225 exhibitors with over 27,000 attendees. 35 conference sessions were held, ranging from Introduction to Windows 3.1 to Network Protocols.

David L. House, from Intel, presented his view of "The Future of Computing" in his keynote address. He demonstrated the use of graphical groupware products coupled with the use of Intel hardware to produce real-time video presentations for faster communications in business and marketing.

The most unique hardware item was the LCBoard manufactured by I/O Universal Technologies which is a keyboard which contains tiny LCD (liquid crystal display) screens like those in small calculators, integrated into some of the key caps which can display different graphic or text legends. These key cap legends can be altered by both the software or by the user by pressing the Control, Alt or Shift keys. This keyboard can eliminate the need for function key templates, custom keyboards, on-screen "buttons", with either touch screen or other pointer support.

Gold Disk, Inc. was showing the new version of their Animation Works Interactive. It's not quite ready yet, but I did see that it would allow a user to develop an interactive application quite easily. I hope to have more information about this interesting product next month.

The Intelligent Road Atlas from Automap allows you to obtain a complete computerized route from one town to another. The program details over 350,000 miles of roads in the US and Canada with another version covering Europe. Retail price is $99.95.

A major Interactive Multimedia Courseware product was shown by Comsell. Some of their current courseware titles include Using OS/2 Version 2.0, Using WordPerfect for Windows, Using Personal Computers with a soon to be released DVI version of their Windows Basics course. Prices for their extensive packages range from $795 to $2195.

ViaGrafix presented an extensive range of over 120 computer training videos with titles covering the range from Learning DOS 5.0 to Programming in C++ along with specific word processing, desktop publishing, spreadsheets, graphic packages and other topics. Prices range from $29 to $59.

Probably the most timely software program at the show was an interactive simulation called Shadow President, written by D.C. True, Ltd., a software firm located in Northwestern University / Evanston Research Park. It is an extremely colorful and detailed simulation environment which allows you to create your own version of the Presidency by promoting your own ideology, giving economic aid, balancing the budget, setting foreign policy, consulting Cabinet members and reviewing the CIA World Factbook. Retail price is $69.95.

Well, I'm off to get ready for Comdex show, next month, in Las Vegas.

Copyright © 1992 Rick Smith All rights reserved.