There's still more on the unholy mess that is next summer's Macworld Expo, and the word isn't good-- at least, not for those of you who look forward to the annual East Coast version of the show. Just yesterday we noted that Jim Rooney of the Massachusetts Convention Center Authority "expressed doubt" that the show would happen anywhere next summer, be it Boston or New York, and an AppleInsider source allegedly put the chance of the show taking place at all at only about 60%.

"So what?" you say; "them's better than even odds, so why so glum, chum?" Well, we admit that your optimism is infectious and only slightly nauseating, but we feel compelled to remind you that IDG top dog David Korse has flat-out declared that if the show comes together next summer, there's a 100% chance that it won't be Macworld Expo-- it'll be CreativePro. And before you start yammering on about how last month's Stevenoteless, now-with-40%-less-Apple Macworld CreativePro was at least better than nothing, we should clarify something: Korse isn't talking about another "Macworld CreativePro," he's talking about just "CreativePro." In his own words, "Macworld is only going to happen once a year, in California."

For a better understanding of the implications of the missing "Macworld" tag from CreativePro's title, take a gander at Think Secret, which reports that 1) "the chances this show will happen in Boston are all but gone" (meaning, "less than 10 percent"), and 2) whether or not there's a show at all "depends on getting Windows products to exhibit," because reportedly there's a "change in the show's direction to get more Windows users as attendees." In other words, any vague resemblance between next summer's maybe-show and the Mac mecca of years past would be entirely coincidental. So if you've still got your fingers crossed for that 60% chance of a CreativePro being slapped together for next July, be aware of just what it is you're wishing for: the opportunity to spend a ton of money to go hang out with Wintel users and look at a slew of products you can't use. (Okay, fine, that's an exaggeration-- and CreativePro might still be a worthwhile gig for actual "creative pros," but if you're looking for a gathering of Mac fanatics from all walks of life congregating to worship at the feet of Jobs, you're going to have to wait for San Francisco in January.)

So IDG's trying to take the show cross-platform in hopes of pulling in some of that sweet, sweet Wintel cash, hmmmm? Well, we'll see how that works out for them, but we can't help be reminded of Apple Expo 98, the UK show from which Apple bailed when the organizers wanted to replace it with a cross-platform event. Eventually Apple Expo went ahead without Apple, and the show's organizers ran a second show-- Total Design Technology, cross-platform and targeted at designers-- concurrently in the same hall. Both shows flopped. Food for thought.

Barring any startling developments (say, the return of a heavily-armed Charlie Greco with David Korse's head on a stick), we'll be leaving this subject until IDG's official excuse decision on September 1st. For now, though, things seem pretty clear: the Boston-or-New York thing is totally irrelevant anyway, because regardless, the summer Macworld Expo is apparently dead and gone. Things are still up in the air, of course, but right now this is really starting to look like one of those times when it sucks to be right.