I'm of the opinion that it's more important that Apple be involved than anything else, and consequently New York may be the only way MacExpo can be a draw if Steve Jobs overrules other locations. But as a leading center for education (including what may be the single most important technical university on Earth), Boston shouldn't exactly be chopped liver as a Mac target market.

In fact, why the same place year after year, anyway? Most conventions rotate locations due to the travel junket factor. An annual SF show makes sense -- it's easy for Apple. But the East Coast show could be in any of a half dozen desirable locations throughout the Midwest and East (at a minimu, it seems like Chicago and Washington would also merit consideration and be worthwhile places for conventioneers to travel to), and the influx of excited local users would help the shows maintain their energy.

But again, Apple must be a force at the show no matter where it is.

Why do these articles elicit so much scorn for Boston? What is it that we've done to you all?

Sheesh. It's sad for everybody, and regardless of where it moved, Steve was going to bail on it anyway. This was a convenient excuse.

Has run Apple totally into the ground for the second time when actually Apple should be shining and gaining marketshare.

Forget MacWorld NY (which I love) it is now officially dead! And unless something dramatic happens at Apple like a new CEO and Board of Directors Apple is lost as well.

Hahaha, f*** Boston and f*** everyone from and living in Boston. LOL, you losers.

NY or Boston, Apple won't return to the East Coast show.

first, stop acting like the rest of the states (or the world) owe you something, NYC. you're not the "greatest city in the world," no matter how many times you say it for a cheap round of applause. i've never been to either new york or boston, but i swear every new yorker who's either escaped from there or been on some sort of public media speaks with an air of arrogant entitlement.

fact is, macworld could have worked without apple, but idg thought they could just sit back and people would just show up out of habit or something. and they did it without any approval from apple, the only company who makes the hardware upon which the macworld magazine (and mac community) is based! if you don't have steve jobs' signature on the dotted line, then you don't make that commitment. dear idg, you do have to put some EFFORT and THOUGHT into it.

dude, take it easy. after witnessing that debacle last night from foxboro and last week from tokyo, NYC's self-esteem can't take too much more!

oh, and wwdc showed what the future holds for trade shows. namely, a large niche event (developers) with coverage in the apple stores via closed broadcast to bring people into those stores and stir interest further.

of the world. They're the center of commerce, entertainment, financial, fashion and design. I'm no New Yorker, but I will say or write, that NY is one of the great cities in the world.

What, did you think San Francisco was? Ha, I live in the bay area and I'm tired of transplants pretending SF is the center of the world, Perhaps their world.

Well, being Quebecois, who moved to NY, yes, there I is something special. New Yorkers carry themselves much diffrently. Most people forget roots, or act like they can't effect them. New Yorkers beleive that their home helps define them: Modern, Cosmpolitian, soaring, a shining beacon. So would you if you lived in that kind of Majesty everyday. It's not unlike cities like London, Paris and Rome have. NY is new on the scene compaired, but it has it's own special charm which makes it the Capitol of the World.

Beside, didn't you watch Star Trek: TNG? NY is Earth's Capital City. :-) (for record: SF is UFP/SF HQ).

Boston, however, is also a lovely city and I'd gladly support a FULL MacWorld there, with Jobs. I have been there (most recently for thier excellent, new Anime Boston convention.) Bostoners also have a kind of air of self-interest. of course, identifying myself both as Quebecois AND a New Yorker, and a Yankees fan kinda got me the short end of hospitality some places.... hehe. Give it up guys, we took the Bambino and your chances of winning. Reincarnate as the Boston RedSox v. 1.0 and I bet you'd win. ;-)

So either city has unique points, but I'd go where I could. I didn't attend MWCP this year, and if next year is a repeat, I won't next year either.

Labor Day is indeed May 1st, but the US is in denial about that fact and has it in September instead, because organized labor is a dangerous thing to those in power...

Keep it in NY and move the January Expo to Boston! That'll show them! :)

Its obvious a lot of people don't have a clue what happened at MacWorld This year. As I was actually there, and was lucky enough to chat with an IDG employee (who helped set it up, or claimed so at least) let me shed some light.

A) Apple WAS a Major part of the show, like always. They had their booth, just as big as always, albeit set up in a different local than ever before. They had their Apple Cinema - showing off Apps, hardware etc to an audience. New show every 30 mins, rotating through products. (the sound track Demo was fun to watch). They even had a role in the training classes going on all week long. The only thing Apple didn't do this year is have Jobs do the keynote, which is a big draw, but its only one difference.

B) New York vs Boston - hard to say. I live just outside NYC, and I take regular trips to Boston to visit Family, but although Boston is a beautiful, history rich city - there is no energy about it like NYC. NYC truely IS the city that never sleeps, and the title "Greatest City in the world" was not a name made up by New Yorkers, it was given to it. Just like Boston is sometimes referred to as the most Europeon City in the US. (which it likely is). But for ANYONE who has not spent considerable time in BOTH has no right to make any conclusions. Saying someone being proud of great NYC is, is Arogant is like saying someone proud of a woman is arogant. Unless you part of that group, you're just guessing.

C) The reason MWCP did so poorly was mainly because they had an Identity crisis. They claimed they were for Creative pros, so IT guys didn't wanna come, and then they said "No, wait, We're Macworld again, with more concentration on Creative" So the Creative people weren't sure if it was still for them. And when you showed up, They had Tech stuff and Creative stuff- But even companies like Adobe didn't have their own booth! They wandered around hanging out with other companies. There was also no dealers there hocking their blowout prices on RAM (a few small vendors only) or selling through their old stock of iPods, or ANY game companies aside from Freeverse.
I have attended every MW since it came to NY, This one was a third of the size, when it comes to companies in attendance.

They kept changing it, and since companies that send employees to these things plan them months in advance, a lot of businesses didn't sign up because they didn't know what they were sending their people to.

This MW was a victim of poor planning and an Identity crisis. No matter WHERE it goes next year it will be better. I would doubt severely it leaving the east coast all together.

I'm thrilled IDG finally saw the light and decided not to go back to the third-rate little provincial hamlet that is Boston...I live in Boston, and -- like any sane person -- have as my greatest ambition to leave and never return.

... I don't give a damn. All I ask is that IDG develop a plan, get Apple's blessing, and then STICK WITH IT.

FWIW, I think the West Coast show should alternate between LA, SF and Seattle; there should be a Midwest show that rotates between Minneapolis, Chicago and Dallas; and an East Coast show that rotates between NY, DC and Atlanta (or perhaps Orlando).

Or perhaps the "big" shows should continue to be SF and NY (with perhaps Chicago added), with smaller "regional" shows in those other towns. For the smaller shows, I would definitely make it very very cheap for a "hall pass" to attract potential switchers.

"Just like Boston is sometimes referred to as the most Europeon City in the US. (which it likely is)."

I've lived near Boston my whole life and I've never heard that one before, ever. Though we do have the biggest construction project in the world, or so they say.

Boston is a city rich in history that gave NYC a run for it money in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. To talk bad about it is to talk bad about the U.S.; the 2 are synonymous. HOWEVER, having said that, the only thing f@#ked up about Boston is it's stupid habit of re-electing Kennedys. I'm going to say it only once, Senator Ted Kennedy is NOT JFK. What are they trying to hold onto, the good times of early 1960? Give it up already; the Kennedy's are a machine that broke down years ago. Stop putting them on a pedestal. Elect a Republican to clean up your act before you re-elect another Kennedy to suck the Boston people dry again.

Thank you,
-R. Nixon