Ah, Demo Days... those halcyon events at which rabid mouth-foaming Mac advocates volunteer their precious weekend hours down at the local computer store to educate the unwashed masses about the various and sundry joys of owning a Macintosh. It's a great idea, and we're glad that Apple's kept it in their arsenal of marketing tactics, but it simply doesn't help to push a lot of product that you can't actually sell. Remember how last week's Demo Days event was cancelled at the last minute due to a lack of inventory at the retail stores? Well, we can't say we're overly surprised to find this out, but Apple has officially cancelled all of the remaining Demo Days promotional events that were scheduled for this weekend and next. And according to Apple Insider, the reason behind the cancellations is the same old story: people already want to buy more Macs than are actually available on store shelves.

Okay, so that makes sense; why dedicate manpower-- cheap as it is-- to persuading people to buy non-existent equipment? That is, except for the sheer fun of it. Imagine how thrilling it would be to show off a demo model iMac to a first time buyer. He uses some kind of Windows machine at work, but he's got no computer at home and he figures it's time to join the Internet generation and start "surfing the web." He was leaning towards getting a Wintel, since he's at least slightly familiar with the system, but he's been intrigued by the iMac ever since seeing those TV commercials. Just think of how fun it would be to teach this guy about the Mac's legendary ease of use, simplicity of design, and world-class performance. You show him the included software, show off the games performance, demonstrate Virtual PC in case there are some Windows-only titles he "has" to run, and calm his fears about the lack of a floppy drive. At the end of your breathtaking demo, he's completely won over. "Great, I'll take one in Blueberry," he says, reaching for his credit card.

"Sorry, we're all out," you respond. "Okay, then, Grape?" he asks, expectantly. "Nope, sorry," you answer, slightly embarrassed. The enthusiasm that animated his face just seconds before has started to fade, as he considers for a moment, and finally says, "Well, I suppose Strawberry might be okay." And this sort of thing goes on for another minute or two until, like Michael Palin in the Cheese Shop sketch, you're finally forced to admit that you haven't got any iMacs at all. So what would the guy do? Wait until more stock comes in, or just go ahead and buy a Compaq? Heck, we don't know-- we're just rambling, here. It's just that we think the Mac community gets a sort of users-group we're-all-in-this-together vibe from these Demo Days happenings-- it's a galvanizing influence, a sort of evangelical charge, an Apple-flavored warm fuzzy. And it's kind of sad that the party gets cancelled "just" because the marketing impact is questionable. Oh, well... we're sure that Apple will reschedule these Demo Days when there are stacks and stacks of iMacs and G3's to foist on the unsuspecting public.