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<h3>Computer &amp; Technology Showcase, May 2001</h3>
After the rousing success of our first
<a href="./history.php#cts1">CTS Expo</a>,
Event Management invited us back for one on 30 and 31 May 2001, at
the Harborview Center in Clearwater. This time, they gave us a 20' by 40'
booth and a "Linux Pavillion".
<p>
As before, Bill Preece and Diana Lenko did the lion's share of the work, aided
and abetted by <a href="http://www.nks.net">NKS</a>. They managed to get
Jon "maddog" Hall of <a href="http://www.li.org">Linux International</a> to
attend and give the keynote speech. Ralph Cooley, of IBM, and a couple of other
speakers also attended, as well as Robin Miller of NewsForge. Unfortunately,
the Harborview had made no arrangement for high speed internet access, so
we had to make do with 33.6K through Harborview's PBX. But NKS hooked it all
up to their very impressive rack system, and provided internet access to any
machine that needed it.
<p>
This event coincided with the release of Microsoft Office XP, which
took place upstairs from the show floor. Microsoft had a large blow-up
replica of an Office XP box at the entrance to the Harborview on the
second day. So of course, some penguinistas decided that Linux deserved
equal time. They stood outside the entrance and handed out Linux
Journals until someone from Microsoft got upset and called the show's
organizer. The penguinistas made a deal where they would move inside,
which they did. Now they stood at the escalators and handed out Linux
Journals. Even though the Microsoft people had agreed, apparently this
was not enough. So they contacted the Harborview Center directly. Now
the penguinistas were forced to return to the show floor. But they'd
made their point. And somewhere in all this, Maddog got into it with
the Microsoft people as well. &lt;Grin&gt;
<p>
Many many SLUGs came out and assisted, and we handed out approximately
5000 distros, along with a lot of other free stuff. And as always, SLUG
was the hit of the event. We had the most lively people, having the
most fun, with the most activity around our booth. See
<a href="http://www.nks.net/CTS/">here</a> for pictures.
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