Do you remember being charmed by the original movie Grease, being stunned by Superman (Is it a bird, is it a plane? No, it's Superman!) and terrified by the scientific thriller The Boys from Brazil? Did you disco dance to Stayin' Alive, clap your hands to Night Fever and hum along to Bright Eyes? Did you stay up late on Thursday nights, along with the rest of the world, to catch the latest episode of Dallas?
If you were doing these things, chances are you remember other iconic events from 1978: the birth of Louise Brown, the world's first test tube baby; the mass murder/suicide of Jim Jones' followers in Guyana; and the three different Popes who occupied the throne of St Peter in that year.
You'll surely also remember the very first Computer Faire to be held in Johannesburg.
In 1978, the PC had yet to be invented but there was already a thriving industry for electronics and gaming users - both Nintendo and Atari launched gaming consoles in 1978 to join the products already on offer from Sinclair and Commodore. Electronic cash registers and smart calculators were helping businesses run smoothly and word processors were about to take the world by storm.
The widespread use of computers was in the future, but a group of clever and far-sighted enthusiasts had already come together to form the Transvaal Amateur Computer Club (TAC2). They shared ideas, wrote software programs and helped one another to get the most out of their early computers.
They also wanted to share this world with the mass of would-be users out there - and so Computer Faire was born.
First held in the Kine Centre, opposite the Carlton Centre in the Johannesburg CBD, Computer Faire was an instant success. The world of computing was new, exciting and still shrouded in just enough mystery to make it esoteric. People flocked to the Faire to learn more about it.
In 1978, the South African economy was doing well (gold had just breached the $200 per ounce mark) and one area that saw rapid growth was the area of computing. As both international and local companies pushed the boundaries of technology, there was an enthusiastic market at home ready and willing to adopt whatever came along.
Computer Faire very quickly established itself as the industry showcase, remembers Jo Melville, outgoing-MD of Exhibitions for Africa, which organises the show today. Companies made sure they had new products to launch at the Faire, and visitors made sure they came along to keep themselves up-to-date.
Joan Joffe, long the doyenne of the South African IT industry, remembers how her company Joffe Associates started up in the heady and exciting era when an industry was being born - and how Computer Faire was an integral part of that genesis.
Joffe was a start-up entrepreneur who helped to build the IT industry as we know it today. Having left Hewlett-Packard, she set up as a distributor for HP calculators - literally selling them from the boot of her car to start off with.
She soon secured the agency for Apple Computer as well and the business grew enough to warrant the establishment of a shop in the Johannesburg CBD. Later, Joffe also brought the first IBM PCs to the South African market and also become one of the best-known IBM resellers.
Growing and promoting a new business within a new industry was no easy task. Joffe remembers how Joffe Associates came to rely on the exposure it gained from Computer Faire year after year to promote its offerings.
"We exhibited on the second-ever Computer Faire," Joffe says. "We were a small operation - really tiny - and decided at the last minute that we should exhibit at the show.
"They didn't have any real stands left and could only give us a portion of the corridor near the restaurant, where we literally had room to put up a shelf.
"So we erected a lot of scaffolding under a sign 'Build on Joffe Associates' and hung up a standard construction board listing the project manager, developer, technical and sales managers (all members of our team).
"And we won the Best Stand award for it."
Both the visibility at Computer Faire and the Best Stand award had important implications for the fledgling company, says Joffe. "It showed what a little company with a lot of imagination could do.
"For the next six or seven years we always had stands with imaginative concepts and we won numerous awards. Some of the themes including the Olympics, the future and a racing theme where we all dressed up as drivers and used the slogan 'Win with Joffe Associates'.
"We had a lot of fun - and it was good for business; we got a lot of visibility. As it grew, Computer Faire became the most important event in the IT industry."
Computer Faire quickly outgrew its humble beginnings and moved to the Carlton Hotel and later relocated to the Showgrounds in Milpark. It also acquired a professional exhibition organiser in the form of Alice Goldman, fondly remembered by many early Computer Faire exhibitors.
When the Milpark Showgrounds closed to become the West Campus of Wits University, Computer Faire moved to the sparkling new Nasrec showgrounds - at its peak occupying two of the massive Nasrec exhibition halls.
Early in the 1990s, Computer Faire merged with Bexa, the long-time rival show organised by the Business Equipment Association. The timing was right: by now, the computer industry was changing and the focus of Computer Faire was rapidly evolving from consumer enthusiast to business professional - companies were visiting the show to find out how to use information technology (IT) in order to better run their businesses, says Melville.
When Computer Faire moved to Gallagher Estate towards the end of the last decade, it still had a strong consumer flavour, but visitors were increasingly looking for business solutions. With exhibitors wanting to target this business market more or less exclusively, it was decided to change Computer Faire from an enthusiasts' show to a serious business exhibition. The merger with Tel.com also paved the way for a more corporate flavour.
The show soon moved to Sandton Convention Centre, a convenient location for the thousands of corporate visitors it was attracting, and changed its name to Futurex to reflect the new business image.
As with so much else in life, the wheel has now come full circle and Melville believes there is a new excitement and enthusiasm gaining ground around computing and gaming in the consumer market.
"To this end, the staid and corporate Futurex is giving way to the dynamic and exciting Computer Faire," she says.
"The new worlds of mobile computing, cellular technology, consumer electronics convergence and personal computing pervading every element of the new digital lifestyle means that individual consumers are once again keen to know what's new and how they can use it to add quality to their lives.
"Of course, the business market is just as important as ever - indeed it still accounts for the lion's share of all computer spend - so it's important not to let the new and exciting consumer focus detract from the vitally important corporate sector."
Computer Faire 2008 will celebrate its 30th birthday with a show which embraces both worlds: the corporate visitor will be able to find solutions for his many business needs; while the consumer will find the personal entertainment and recreational products he wants to complement his increasingly digital lifestyle.
"Most important, we're bringing the excitement back into the show," says Melville. "Although it's 30 years old, Computer Faire is still as dynamic and young at heart as it was back in 1978 - and we're getting ready to show Johannesburg how much fun the IT industry can be."
Commenting on the evolution of Computer Faire to a more serious business show and now it's move back to embracing the consumer market, Joffe welcomes the news that the show promises to rekindle the spirit of fun and excitement that characterised the early events.
"We had fun back then," she says. "If we can regenerate that fun element that is really good news for the industry."
Computer Faire 2008 will be held from 20 to 23 May 2008.
For more information, please contact Linda Kruger
Tel: 011 886 3734 ext 221
Mobile: 082-854-4881
lindak@exhibitafrica.co.za
www.cfaire.co.za
Some of the highlights of 1978 include:
Computer Faire launches in Johannesburg Camp David Peace Treaty between Israel and Egypt Louise Brown, first test-tube baby, born in the UK Charon, the moon of Pluto, is discovered Mass murder/suicide of members of Jim Jones' religious cult in Guyana Argentine wins soccer World Cup Christopher Reeves takes to the skies as Superman The first Garfield cartoon appears The soap opera Dallas begins The Bee Gees' Saturday Night Fever gets to number one on the world charts, with Night Fever and Stayin Alive featuring as the top two songs of the year The movie Grease wows South African audiences Death of two popes: John Paul 1 in March and Paul VI in August; Pope John Paul II is to lead the Catholic Church for the next 28 years Golda Meir dies (Prime Minister of Israel 1979-1974) Jimmy Carter becomes president of the US James Callaghan is Prime Minister of the UK Balthazar Johannes Vorster is Prime Minister of South Africa; succeeded by PW Botha in September of 1978 South African scientists build a nuclear weapon Gold goes above $200 per ounce Keith Moon, of the Rolling Stones, dies from a drug overdose Space Invaders takes over arcades around the world Nintendo and Atari both release gaming consoles The first Computer Bulletin Board System (Ward & Randy's CBBS, Chicago) goes live. BBSs would later evolve into the World Wide Web IBM announces its midrange IBM System/38, the only commercial computer with a built-in relational database management system IBM researchers are working with experimental silicon microcircuit technology that will increase computing power 10-fold
1978 wasn't just a good year for South African computer enthusiasts. Movie buffs had a satisfying year as well, with the following films all released: Animal House; Attack of the Killer Tomatoes; Autumn Sonata; Avalanche!; Bad News Bears Go To Japan; The Betsy; The Big Sleep; Big Wednesday; Blue Collar; The Boys from Brazil; The Buddy Holly Story; California Suite; Capricorn One; The Cat from Outer Space; The Cheap Detective; Coma; Comes a Horseman; Coming Home; Convoy; Corvette Summer; Days of Heaven; Death on the Nile; The Deer Hunter; Driver; Drunken Master; The Duellists; The End; Every Which Way But Loose; The Eyes of Laura Mars; F.I.S.T; Five Deadly Venoms; Force 10 From Navarone; Foul Play; The Fury; The Gates Of Heaven; Get Out Your Handkerchiefs; Go Tell The Spartans; Goin' South; Gray Lady Down; Grease; Halloween; Heaven Can Wait; High Anxiety; Hooper; I Wanna Hold Your Hand; Interiors; Invasion of the Body Snatchers; Jaws 2; The Last Waltz; The Lord of the Rings; Magic; Martin; Midnight Express; Damien: Omen 2; Orchestra Rehearsal; Piranha; Pretty Baby; Return from Witch Mountain; Revenge of the Pink Panther; Same Time, Next Year; Sgt. Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band; Shaolin Master Killer; A Snake in the Eagle's Shadow; Straight Time; Superman; The Swarm; Thank God It's Friday; An Unmarried Woman; Up In Smoke; Watership Down; The Wedding; Who Is Killing The Great Chefs of Europe; Who'll Stop The Rain; Wild Geese; and The Wiz.
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