Color us incensed! There was a time when attending the East Coast Macworld Expo every year was a no-brainer for your friendly AtAT staff, since it was held mere miles from our headquarters in Boston. Last year, though, Apple threw us a curve by moving the Expo to New York City, necessitating a week-long road trip to the Big Apple in the AtATmobile. It was a nice change of pace-- in addition to the odd luxury of attending an Expo that was held entirely within one convention center (instead of frequently catching shuttle buses between Boston's Bayside Expo Center and the World Trade Center), we were free to spend some time doing the tourist thing during non-Expo hours. We got to hit some museums, take in a Broadway show, visit the Empire State Building, and hear a pre-recorded Adam West advise us to buckle up inside a taxi cab. All in all, it was a fun and positive experience.

But it was also an expensive experience, and judging by the grumbling we heard on the show floor by both attendees and exhibitors alike, we have to assume that it was expensive for everybody. The hotels were pricey, the food was pricey, and half the time we were sure somebody was going to charge us for breathing the air. For us, a Boston Expo also holds the purely selfish benefit of allowing us to go back to our own homes at the end of the day, eat our own non-pricey food, and sleep in our own non-pricey beds. So yes, we were thrilled to find out that at least for 1999, the Expo was moving back to Boston, and yes, now we're a little miffed to hear that Apple's pushing hard to move it back to New York instead. MacWEEK broke the rumor first, we believe, but just about every Mac site picked up on it quickly; apparently nothing's yet final, but according to MacCentral, IDG Expos is indeed considering the move back to NYC, despite last year's less-than-compelling attendance numbers and the sight of penniless conference-goers begging for bus fare home outside the Javitz Center. And rumor has it that IDG is being pressured to make the move by none other than Steve Jobs.

So if Boston yields more and happier attendees, why is Steve pushing so hard for New York? Sure, the official story is that New York better matches the markets that Apple is pursuing, and the Javitz Center allows the whole convention to be under one roof, but our personal theory is that Steve's got a favorite vegan restaurant in the Big Apple-- perhaps Han Gawi, or Zen Palate. If that's the case, may we humbly recommend that Steve try Boston's own Buddha's Delight on Beach Street, only perhaps a fifteen minute walk from the World Trade Center? Sure, it may not be as fancy-schmancy as Han Gawi, and you might get better service in a war zone, but the food is all vegan and can't be beat. Heck, Steve, if you're watching, we'll even take you there, our treat. The number 13 special will kick your ass, believe us...