Bet you thought we were through with the hand-wringing over Adobe's decision to bail on next month's Macworld Expo, right? Well, not quite... we've still got a bit of angst left in us. After all, first the company which produces the most important graphics applications for the Mac platform drags its feet in a sheepishly noncommittal manner when it comes to cranking out Mac OS X ports of its products. Then it announces that it's skipping Mac OS X's "coming-out party" due to "budget constraints." Well, that makes us a mite edgy... not to mention suspicious.

Okay, we know that ever since Steve moved the summer Expo from Boston to New York a few years back, exhibiting at said show costs an arm, a leg, two lungs, a kidney, and six pineal glands. And we're also well aware that most tech companies are in a bit of a financial pinch right now. Still, for Adobe to skip an Expo for the first time in years-- especially an Expo as strategically crucial to Apple's plans for the platform's future as this one is-- well, let's just say that the timing is darned unfortunate. But hey, if Adobe's out of cash and can't afford to exhibit at a trade show in the Big Apple, that's all there is to it. It certainly doesn't say anything about the company's lack of commitment to the Mac these days, right?

Wrong. Because Adobe did have the cash to exhibit at a New York trade show, and it didn't blow it all on penny whistles and moon pies. Instead, Adobe blew it all on-- ready for this?-- exhibiting at a New York trade show. As faithful viewer Jay pointed out, while Adobe is conspicuously absent from the Macworld Expo's exhibitor list, the company's name clearly graces the PC Expo exhibitor list... not once, but twice. In other words, Adobe lacks the necessary funds to attend our Expo, but has plenty of green to slap up a booth or two at a less Mac-centric New York show.

Now, we seriously doubt that PC trade shows are somehow less expensive than Mac ones-- especially when both events are in the same city and in the same convention center. It sure looks to us like Adobe made a choice-- and that choice was to go to PC Expo instead of Macworld Expo. Maybe it's just us, but that doesn't sound like the choice of a company that's overly gung-ho about supporting our platform. We know, we know... realistically, the company needs to spend its money where its going to generate the highest return on investment, and that may well mean PC Expo. But that doesn't mean we gotta like it.