Okay, who's pumped for this summer's Macworld Expo? Sure, we know Apple isn't, since the company apparently equates the show's move from New York back to its original Boston the equivalent of jumping into a vat of raw sewage and then drying itself off with a plague blanket, and has accordingly declined to attend, but that's no reason to think the show won't be one jammin' hootenanny. C'mon, it'll be just like the Expos of a few years back-- only in Boston, with no Stevenote, no Apple booth, and far fewer exhibitors because no vendor wants to pay money for a booth at a show nobody will actually bother to attend. But that doesn't mean it won't still be fun, right?

That's what IDG World Expo is saying, at any rate; according to Macworld UK, the show's organizer claims that July's Expo is "shaping up to be a very strong show." Details are scarce on just what it means by "strong," and IDG has been known to spin like mad in the past-- remember when it said that the "retargeted" Expo (meaning, the Expo "without a Stevenote") would be a "big success" if it drew half of its previous year's attendance? The existing Boston Expo page clearly tries to paint the show primarily as a learning experience (the Pro, Users, and Power Tools conferences, the Hands-on MacLabs, etc.) while downplaying the whole "show floor" side of the event, which is only mentioned as an afterthought. But for whatever it's worth, IDG claims that it's "prepared to make a long-term investment in the show" and "with its return to Boston in July, Macworld Conference and Expo is writing another exciting chapter in its 20-year history"-- presumably an exciting chapter titled "The Appleless Years."

Indeed, if the show is so freakin' strong, how come it might share its venue with another conference? The Boston Globe recently reported that the Massachusetts Convention Center Authority have struck a "tentative agreement" to host SAP Worldwide at the center during the same week as Macworld Expo. If the deal goes through, Mac fiends will occupy "most of the exhibit floor" and 25 meeting rooms, while the SAP conference would take place in 50 of the remaining meeting rooms. (Interestingly, SAP is the enterprise resource planning software that Apple uses to run its business, so while the company might skip exhibiting at the Expo, it might wind up next door anyway as an attendee. We sense the possibility of violence.)

Meanwhile, for those of you for whom the Expo is all about the keynote, IDG promises "more information about the event's keynote presentation in a future announcement 'soon.'" For the record, though, no, Jack hasn't been approached to do the honors, despite your touching enthusiasm to witness such a public speaking debacle, which would surely be the single most terrifying disaster in Boston's history since the Great Molasses Flood of 1919. Rumors are flying that IDG has instead opted for a speaker less likely to cause a tragic loss of life. CarrotTopnote, anyone? His calendar says he's free that week...