CeBit `92
    The Odyssey
 

It`s CeBit-time!  In the early morning
of   the  14.03.92  three  members  of
Alcatraz   (Head,   Mission   and  Mad
Butcher)  and  Orbit/Design headed for
the   railway-station  of  Osnabrueck.
Entering  our  train,  we met two guys
from  Interactive.   Now  1 1/2 boring
hours  started.   We  chatted a bit...
Nothing special happened...
Finaly   we   arrived   at   the  main
railway-station   of  Hannover  -  the
town  almost  the  whole  german scene
headed  for this day.  A train took us
to the exhibition-center.

We entered the holy halls of the CeBit
`92,  one  of   the  hugest  computer-
exhibitions  worldwide.  Our first aim
was to reach the Commodore stand,  the
place all Amiga-freaks met.  The stand
was  already  overcrowed with hundrets
of  freaks.   I met some of my friends
(Hi to Spider, Funky, Aljechin, Zorba,
Doolittle,  Chaos...) and chated about
1 hour.

As usual the amiga-freaks designed the
whole  stand  of Commodore and various
walls.  So the organizers were not too
pleased  by  their presence.  Some got
even  in  conflict with them.  I heard
of  two  guys  who were menaced with a
gun.  I think that the organizers knew
about  the  scene and their behaviour,
so they should react more cool and not
so emotional.

Commodore  seems  to  build  up a real
relationship  to  the  scene.  I think
they  recognized that their success is
mainly based on the freaks and so they
care  more  about  this  part of their
customers.
One  of the top-guys of Commodore even
held a short speech for the scene.  At
the  end  he  read  the  text  of  the
invitation to the CULT-Party.
So  I  think  the relationship between
Commodore  and  their  scene  will get
better  in  future.  They don`t see an
enemy  in  the  scene destroying their
reputation,  but the majority of their
customers.

Soon  Mission  and myself got bored by
the  freaks,  so  we decided to have a
look  on  the  other  halls to collect
some  pr-presents.   We  rushed almost
through  all  the  halls of the CeBit.
But it was worth it.  We got masses of
ball-pens,  cakes, sweets, bags...  We
also  managed to get one of the famous
`Word Perfect`-hats and `Commodore sun
glasses`.   We had also a look on some
of   the   PR-shows.    D2  offered  a
bombastic  show  (sort  of TV-show) on
their  stand.  The `Wild West`-Show of
Word  Perfect  was also worth watching
it.  So we had a cool time...
You  see  having  a  look on the other
halls  is  not  so  boring  you  might
suppose it to be. Some of this PC-guys
are really quite funny...

After  some  time  we  returned to the
Commodore-stand.    But   as   nothing
special  happened, we decided to leave
the  CeBit and head for the Party.  It
was    organized    by   CULT   in   a
Youth-Center.    As   the  YC  was  in
another  part  of  Hannover, we had to
take  the train again.  The train took
about  half  an  hour, but as we met a
nice  girl  and  had a funny chat with
her,  we  didn`t  get  bored  (I don`t
think  that you`ll ever read this, but
anyway, greets to you!).

The  party-place  was  easy  to  find,
because  it  was  directly in front of
the place our train stopped.

(For  more infos about the party, have
a  look  at  the reoprt in this issue.
The  only thing I want to say here is,
that   it   was   a  `typical`  german
exhibition party...)

After  2  hours  of `party-action`, we
decided  to  leave and catch our train
back to Osnabrueck.  On our way to the
station   we   met  a  guy  living  in
Hannover.   He  offered  us to show us
some   parts   of   his  town  in  our
remaining time.  We accepted and so we
had  a look on the `Paulaner`.  It was
absolutly  overcrowed  by  visitors of
the  CeBit  (50% Japanese).  So we got
something  to  eat  from McDonalds and
took our train back home.

Totally tired we fell asleep...

 
All  in  all I think that the CeBit is
not    the   right   place   for   the
Amiga-Scene   to   meet.   As  it`s  a
professional     exhibition     mainly
dedicated   to  companies,  the  scene
isn`t  liked there.  The organizers of
the  CeBit  even  said, that Commodore
should leave hall 1 if they are unable
to   control  their  freaks.   But  as
Commodore  has a contract for the next
two  years  we`ll  see  them  back for
sure.   Besides  this  the amiga-scene
represents  a  big  part of the steady
visitors.    So  I  don`t  think  that
Commodore   has  to  leave.   But  the
amiga-scene   should   meet  on  other
exhibitions where we`re accepted (e.g.
Hobbytronic in Dortmund, Amiga Expo in
Cologne  or  World  of  Commodore).  I
hope  to  meet some of you there...  I
don`t   think  that  I`ll  be  at  the
CeBit `93...

                  Mad Butcher/ALCATRAZ