Yesterday was the RISC OS [3] South West Show at Loxton near Weston-Super-Mare.
At first opening, the show seemed a little quiet, and I was able to go directly to two stands and get my software upgrades without any queuing, although at one stand, I did wait a minute or so to allow two dealers to finish their conversation whilst I quietly browsed the offerings.
Given the distance from home, I had decided start early and not wait until the show closed before leaving.
After I had attended the first theatre presentation, by Jack Lillingston, the main show hall appeared to be much busier with plenty of people wandering around hopefully spending money like myself.
Having observed and spoken to one or two people visiting the show, it seems that the audience that attends the South West show don't all get to some of the other shows, so this one does fill a need in the South of the country. Some people told me that they don't get to Wakefield for instance, as the journey is too awkward by train or too far by car for them.
For various reasons, I didn't get to attend the other theatre talks except for Peter Naulls' Unix Porting Project talk which after a slow start whilst Peter had to lug his equipment into the theatre (in 3 trips without asstance), and a minor glitch with the video projector, was very interesting and informative.
The show did not appear to be a platform for new hardware launches but many people were offering software upgrades from various quarters.
I guess there is no after show news in the usual places probably because there were no really earth shattering launches or surprises at the show.
New products / versions avaialble were: NetFetch, DialUp, EasiWriter/TechWriter, Artworks, Foundation Risc User DVD, a demonstration of the latest Oregano 2 (only the TV Interactor on the PC), but Oregano UK hope to have the RISC OS [4] version real soon and if the version shown is anything to go by, then it copes much better with some web sites which have previously been particularly difficult.
I've not heard any offical numbers, but I think that the show was probably busy enough for some vendors at least. Overall, I think a success, thanks to all those involved in making this show possible.
I'm not writing more here, as I may write up my notes for one of the magazines.
