There is an annual event called COFES, a kind of exclusive weekend for elite members of the CAD world (computer-aided design) locked away in a luxury resort on the outskirts of Scottsdale Arizona. I've been to three of them. At one of them, I was even the recipient from The CAD Society's "Community Award" for the (by now) twenty years I've spent reporting on CAD software. (Oh, and I've been recipient of the "Best CAD/AEC/PLM Editor of 2004" award from Strategic Reach.)
This particular year, the Microsoft attendees were being pouty. I suspect the contingent, with their joined-at-the-hip PR advisors, were told to attend COFES. They sat glumly in a clump, looking as if they were wishing the weekend to hurry and end. No surprise: they had no point of reference with us CAD types whooping it up.
Another editor noticed the frostiness directed towards me in particular. Feel the ice. These were people with whom I worked with in earlier months, but now there was only animosity. I was determined to find out why.
All meals were served to all attendees at the same time in a supersize tent, and so I took the opportunity to sit down with the hard-faced Microsofties. After a couple of sentances of small talk, I asked directly, "What's wrong?"
"Nothing," was the weak-kneed lie from one of them.
Well, I thought, if they weren't man enough to deal with relationship issues, then I had no time for them. The end.
Comments