13 March 2005

CeBIT in Hanover is many computer shows copmbined in one. In the UK there are no longer any large computer shows except BETT for education. The scale of CeBIT is a shock and then there are the surprises. There is a large Linux and Open Source presence for example. Hall 6, H18 is paid for by Linux New Media ( www.linuxnewmedia.com) and there are several spaces for anyone to turn up. One such is Scribus. This is similar to Quark or InDesign with export of PDF. Free to download though they may start to charge for support.

Open Source is definitely established. Macromedia are showing Flex for forms design and display of enterprise data. They say that Flash 7 was released for Linux, Sun Solaris and Mac OSX because this was requested by developers.

As far as I know this is the first occasion Adobe are presenting server software for PDF at a European show. It still appears to be fairly expensive. The Public Sector Park ( Hall 9) is aimed at local authorities with large budgets, not small companies. In Germany there are already some forms available. The Bundesamt f?r Finanzen has tax forms for visiting artists. The post office, Deutsche Post, offers stamps online to print out so they must be confident that Lifecycle can limit the number of copies.

Reader 7 comes with some of the features of the full software. They are only turned on if the server software is set up. This has a lot of potential but there needs to be some working examples before most people will understand it. Since getting back to the UK I have found one form on the defra site but there is not much publicity about this.

Another surprise was finding promotion for scene.org, hosts for a 'demo scene' of digital animation for download. Digitale Kultur are in Hall 27 which is mostly about the European part of the World Cyber Games. ATI are showing off their graphics cards so maybe they thought scene.org was worth the space. Digitale Kultur are doing a useful job in presenting animation that is hard for most people to access. Not everyone can use unzip and then put all the files in the right place. The scene.org site links to the forthcoming awards show that should generate some more interest.

I think the style of scene.org demos has influenced TV promotional spots that introduce programs. I had hoped to talk to people from Deutsche Welle about this. Unfortunateley their stand was part of the Planet Reseller section. This was only open to 'the channel' and the legitimate press. I hope to get a letter of introduction for next time. Meanwhile, my guess is that although the scene.org style has some rough edges, the approach is working through to TV titles and dance video. (The dance music awards was another event that was hard to get into although the rehearsal volume was loud enough)

One disappointment was that there were no e-book readers to be seen. My previous articles have mentioned AFAICS and their report on how e-books are likley to replace printed books, starting in Asia. This may be happening but there is no sign of Asian companies bringing such products to Europe. Argosy (Hall 20, D16) have an e-book reader in their catalogue but decided not to show any examples. Apparently it would need customisation for local marlets and they think the volume required is unlikely at the moment. What is apparent throughout CeBIT is a range of mobile DVD players and High Definition TV recievers. Maybe if people are carrying round a mobile device, they want more than the equivalent of a book.

One thing worth passing on is that CeBIT still continues after 6 when it officially closes. Actual business semms to stop but some food and drink appears and a bit later there is live music. I am not sure if the same stands host this each day but if you are attending I can suggest that Bayern Innovativ in Hall 9 is well worth checking out. The show closes Wednesday, 16th.

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Main point from this seems to be the lack of any e-book devices. I think text as such is not a leading medium any more. Mobile phones now display some text and graphics but voice is the main function. Mobile DVD players seem to be getting around.

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