Andy Ihnatko on Apple & the Macworld Expo

Andy Ihnatko penned a long article on Apple's recent announcement. Although peppered here and there with Andy's famous wit, this article is one of the more serious and insightful articles I've seen from Andy (or anyone else, for that matter). It's a good read, and if you're a Mac-head of any flavor, you should read it.

Personally, I'm still grumpy about the fact that when MacUser and MacWorld magazines (back when they were both dead-tree publications) merged, they gave the back cover article to John C. Dvorak. Andy always penned the back page of MacUser, and Dvorack had MacWorld's back page (IIRC, it was a long time ago). MacWorld was probably the better magazine. Certainly it was the bigger magazine, but I always looked forward to MacUser more because of the often gut-wrenchingly funny back page articles Andy wrote.

My one quibble with the article, though, is Andy's assurances that the MacWorld Expo and Conference is "in terrific hands and I don't think it's ever been more valuable". These assurances rings a little hollow, and I think it would be an understatement to say that Macworld will have trouble staying relevant without Apple's participation. To me, it sounds lik somebody telling a friend who's on their death bed that they are going to be just fine. It's not true and Andy knows it's not true, but he's had a long relationship with the conference and its organizers, so I can understand his hesitation with writing them off, but I'm not going in 2010, and I'm betting I'm not the only person for whom 2009 will be their last Macworld.

Apple better keep doing WWDC, though. That's the more valuable conference to people like me, and the show I really look forward to.