Yesterday it was over to the Javits Center to take in MacWorld New York Expo with Paul. MacVillage would have been a better name. Really, it turned out to be a bit of an overstatement, either that or the world is becoming a much smaller place.

As early as March, the rumors were flying about this year’s Expo. Unfortunately, they proved true. No Adobe, no Quark, no Macromedia and no Microsoft (although there were people dressed up in those weird costumes featured on the Microsoft commercials these days). The Expo was smaller than I had ever seen it, being confined to just one “room” in Javits.

We were talking to one of the Apple guys and while he extolled the features of the G5. Even though I pointed out Apple’s diminishing share of the PC market, he commented Apple would always have “its niche.” Great! Companies innovate to niche markets (not!) - made me think of the Commodore Amiga which was supposed to be this great little machine you could do all kinds of stuff on (the visual effects for the TV series Babylon 5 were done on a gaggle of Commodores in a basement in the MidWest). Not too many of them around now though.

Apple has a history of developing great products and then marketing them like crap - Newton, the first pda - WebTV. If you pick up the book about Apple’s history, it makes you want to pull your hair out. I like my Macs, quite a bit actually but, I’m not blind to the fact that these Expo’s are getting smaller and smaller each year and companies are choosing not to attend - it isn’t a good sign.