It's funny working in an industry where, even at its lowest point, there are still stupid amounts of money being thrown around.
One of the best places to see the IT industry in full swing is trade shows like Computex, CeBIT or E3.
This year's CeBIT is no different. As a journalist, you get to feel the pulse of the industry for the year, as an exhibitor you can forge relationships and etch out the makings of a new deal, and as a visitor, well, you get to walk around, look at the (sometimes) cool tech and munch down on free candy.
But after a while, the suits, classy displays, and flashing lights gets too much. That guy that's standing next to his latest range of motherboards is a salesperson. He has no interest in the technology, had no say in its development and isn't likely to understand the broader picture.
And that's fine, he isn't supposed to. He's supposed to sell stuff - I'm just not interesting in buying anything.
But then, at every trade show there's a jewel in the aisles - CSIRO. The suits are replaced by beards, the sales pitch is replaced by geeky enthusiastic ramblings and the classy displays are replaced by hands-on technical demonstrations.
The CSIRO has to do things differently. It exists on the outside of capitalistic enterprise and because of that, it can't rely on branding or marketing campaigns. The only way it can get funding is by doing something amazing with technology. That's all they've got to work with and that makes this one of the most interesting sectors in the industry.
Last year I reported on CSIRO's Haptic Workbench, which creates virtual 'patients' for training surgical skills in new recruits. It's an amazing device, and worth the admission fee alone. This year, even though it's improved greatly, project is still waiting on that big client that walks through the door and demands that their surgical training centre is fitted with twenty Workbenches. This hasn't happened yet - interest, yes, big commitment, no.
But that's part of the game. While I was talking to one of the scientists, a person who was using the Workbench stood up, proclaimed the wonders of the device and said he was extremely interested in it. The man, who was involved in medical training, handed out his business card, said thanks, and walked away.
The scientist then turned back to me, bubbly and happy, and said: 'now that's what we need'.
In the centre of such a lackluster show for an industry that is notorious for it's over hyped, spend-a-lot-of-money-and-still-miss-the-point, atmosphere it's utterly refreshing to see this kind of thing going on.
I urge anyone who's interested in tech to check out how things work on the frontlines. CeBIT's running from the 6-8 May at Darling Harbour's Sydney Convention and Exhibition Centre. You can find more information here.