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More than 10,000 products will be pitched at the Las Vegas extravaganza Comdex this week. And companies are paying $45 a square foot in the exhibit hall for the chance to buttonhole passersby. Inside the static were a few bits of news:
Compaq produced its first portable computer after years of developing a personal digital computer that the public would go for. Rather than using a device of its own invention, Compaq's "PC companion" is made by Casio Computer of Japan and added a modem and email software, Bloomberg said. H-P, Hitachi, NEC, and Philips are planning similar devices.
Microsoft announced its Windows CE, a smaller version of its Windows operating system that not only runs on handheld computers, but also set-top boxes that give TVs access to the Internet, and phones capable of using email.
Meanwhile, the masses collected to hear the keynote speaker, Intel chief Andy Grove, wow them with the obvious: Grove thinks the PC will prevail over the TV because of interactive video.
Netscape touted its In-Box Direct for SuiteSpot, the enterprise version of its In-Box Direct service. The technology lets companies deliver Web pages directly to employees' computers.
And Sun Microsystems subsidiary JavaSoft announced that it would open the Internet language to bodies that set standards in order to ensure compatibility across systems.
