The World's biggest computer show is not as popular believe would have it Comdex is Las Vegas but Cebit in Hanover, Germany and we chose to go by train, ,hire a bike and camp primarily because we decided to go at short notice and expected the hotels to be full and partly because we like it that way preferring to spend money on good food.
We change at Amersfoort for the train to Berlin that originates from Schipol Airport.
Over the border and into Low Germany and like Holland this area is very flat but unlike Holland very rural. As we are on a Deutsche Bahnhof train we find that weisbier a product associated with Bavaria is on sale at Das BordTref.. Note that the funny shape is caused by the perspective of the shot - it can be corrected but we chose to leave it.
We arrived suitably relaxed to find Hanover bathed in sunshine but learning from our experience in Paris we take a taxi to the campsite which turned out to be the correct decision. There were hotels available but we ended up saving money on non-essentials. We were also rewarded with an excellent setting - a campsite on the blauwer zee to the North West of the city.
.The cafe on the site is open but serving a limited range of dishes as there is hardly anyone here. It was below zero at night and when I mentioned it to the site manager he implied that we were lucky to get any Sun and should make the most of it. A winter sleeping bag is highly recommended.
We take the U-Bahn across the city changing at Hanover Hauptbahnhof. Most of the time the system is more like the Sneltrams in Utrecht and Amsterdam in that it is overground with an underground section in the stadsmitte. Oh we advise you load your chip card before you go as the coin machine at the station was out of use. It was valid in Geneva even though the currency was Swiss Francs but check with your bank before you go as it was not possible to load the card from machines in the city. There are two stations that serve the Messehalle exhibition on different lines and just to give you an idea of the size of the area there is a bus that circulates round and over 25 halls - about double the size of the Birmingham NEC in the UK.
Arriving slightly late there are hardly any queues which concurred with the downbeat reports we had been reading in the press.
As you can see it's a bit like Kenilworth Road home of Luton Town rather than first day in the Selfridges sale.
Some attempts at art included by popular demand. Remove the files large121.jpg and large121c.jpg from a saved copy of cebit.htm if these are not to your taste.
One of the two fountains on the site. We did photograph the other one but an old man walked across the shot right in the middle of the water jet making it impossible to correct.
Most of the stands we went to first of all were rather dour and sensible which you could say was boring but perhaps it marks the beginning of a certain maturity in the computer industry. The one thing that stood out was the fact that hardly any English was spoken and the Americans and Brits were conspicuous by their absence - this clearly took the organisers by surprise as most of the signs were in both German and English. As the complex was huge and we went on the las day we did not get to see the offerings from former darlings of the Nasdaq Oracle, Microsoft, Sun and Intel though this was by accident and not design.
Fortunately someone decided to put a band on to introduce some email client software. It was incredibly well done - the band performed a few numbers then introduced the star salesman while playing a neutral backbeat. Unfortunately we did not make a note of the company but if either the band or the company want to get in touch we will publish a hyperlink to your site. The software integrated email, MP3s film soundbites into one in box - sounds simple and it using the unfashionable but productive Visual Basic a great implementation.
Here we spotlight the lead singer - sort of a bit like a cross between Liam Gallagher 10 years and a young Sir Elton John.
Time is moving on and after lunch we head for hall one and as you can see all the big manufacturers are here. It doesn't come across in the photo's but the lighting was excellent giving an impression of controlled understatement but in a modern sense of it rather than the old fashioned meaning.
"Capture Every Moment" - this was the theme of the show from leading camera manufacturer Olympus s though the shots were taken on a camera from one of their rivals. This was trick and we had to work very hard to make the images into something worth looking at as the dancers had the nerve to move around during the time between pressing the button and the autofocus process the shot. The company were from New York but were mulit-racial emphasising the global nature of the business. The first one seemed to come from England - don't ask me how I know but she had obviously moved on from Friday night at the local Roxy or Palais.
After an incredibly energetic performance the company take a bow and enjoy the applause.
As you can see they are clearly enjoying their work as we do here at NDBO of course.
You may think it a strange way to sell optimised multi-threaded servers aimed at the web market but the blue lycra clad roller skaters drew the crowds with a very professional display at the Fujutsi Siemens stand. Between performances we had a think of what to do about the time lag and found that anticipating a transition the music such as a drum roll and pressing the button worked incredibly well. Unfortunately the flash reflected of the material in the costumes too much leading a\to the glow that you see and this is after as much equalisation as we could get away with without degrading the image. image file is dance2.jpg larger than that sown here
The camera manufacturers kindly brought along some objects for the amateur to photograph and lit them very well. And no before you ask we are not receiving money from the sponsors and did not get to drive it home along the A2 Berlin to Amsterdam Autobahn.
Looking through the turbine display from Siemens we get some idea of the lighting effects used in the hall.
An interesting variation of the oldest sales trick in the book.
More far Eastern influence and an oasis of calm away from the main show.
And finally something for these into black leather.
I should emphasise that the story does not give a true representation of CeBit 2003 as it was rather dour and it was left largely to the Japanese electronics companies to provide the entertainment. Surely a further symptom of the current decline in popular culture in the UK. On the software from there wasn't too much to catch the eye reflecting the fact that all the from and technical problems that the modern office faces have been solved and the main focus is on security and a long way second is getting all that Silicon and fiber to boost the bottom line and get the red ink off the profit and loss account.
