Yes, it's official-- for those of you who were looking forward to spending a delightful week admiring Boston's award-winning construction scenes ("Oooo, the Big Dig™! Hey Marge, get a photo of that crane!") during this summer's Macworld Expo, it's time to rethink those plans. IDG Expos has confirmed rumors that surfaced last week which claimed that the Expo will be held once again in New York City instead of returning to its hometown digs. Here at AtAT we are, shall we say, "disappointed" with this turn of events.

Robert Morgan's latest RFI Report does a little Dance of Joy about the move back to the Big Apple, noting how beneficial it is for Apple's future. He notes that New York is the "financial, media, cultural, and creative captial of the world," while Boston offers little more to an Expo crowd than "a lot of universities." Given that Apple's trying hard to capture the attention of the media and entertainment markets while also staying as visible as possible to Wall Street, Morgan contends that New York is the natural choice for an east coast show. In addition, CNN and CNBC coverage of a New York Expo is very likely, while it's virtually guaranteed they wouldn't head all the way into Beantown for the story. And while we'll grudgingly admit that all of Morgan's stated reasons are more or less valid, we bet that his delight is due in no small part to simple, selfish personal preference. Not that there's anything wrong with that-- we felt the same way when we heard that the show was moving back to Boston this year.

In response, we can think of at least a dozen reasons why the Expo would be better off in Boston. Well, maybe a half-dozen. Or at least two or three. Okay, basically it all comes down to personal cost and convenience, are you happy now? So instead of sleeping in our own beds, eating our own food, and hopping on the subway each morning to attend the show, we'll have to pack up the AtATmobile, drive four hours there, pay obscene amounts of filthy lucre to park, pay even more for a hotel room, and then shell out still more for a week's worth of vegan food. Pity us. ;-) Yes, we're whining; no, we're not thinking about what's best for Apple; and no, it's really not that big a deal to us. Heck, it means we'll get to catch a Broadway show and hit a couple of great museums. So we suppose we'll see you in NYC this summer, if you can scrape together the dough.