As usual, GITEX runs in October and our company exhibits as part of the Jordanian Pavilion.
I do not share sentiments with Dubai's large no of fan. I have always had mixed feelings, but now i have only negative feeling. Even though, and from the outside, it has the looks of modern cities, however, there are fews things that cannot but piss you off.
Upon arrival, i headed immediately to the passport control, and after waiting in a queue for quite sometime, i was relieved that it was my turn to check my passport, only to be asked by a friendly lady to go back to the lower floor and take an Iris Signature. Along the way i found many people returning. How Difficult is it for officials in Dubai to install a sign asking arrivals to take Iris signature before proceeding to Passport Control? The same thing happens every day and nobody is taking any action.
I rented a car (things went smooth) and upon hitting the street, i just faced a total mess. Lots of constructions and diversions , which is fine, but the signage is just horrible. You start with a sign and when you reach an intersection or a diversion, the signs do not tell you anything, and if you are lucky, you might find a small sign at exactly the intersection, by which time, it is almost impossible for you to change lanes.
it took me exactly 30 minutes to reach my hotel, because i was going around it for several rounds. I made a visual contact early on, but getting there amongst the mesh of diversion and constructions is something that requires quite a bit of training.
Arriving at the expo grounds is also an adventure. It is located next to Dubai world trade center that is reachable from a large round about!! and you can probably imagine the traffic on round about in busy areas. But when you reach the parking area, you also wait in lines only to find a poor parking area with no asphalt. If you are lucky, you find a parking place; mind you, that we are exhibitors and paying a lot to rent an area in Gitex and, therefore, the least of our expectations is find a proper parking location. There are three parking lots A, B, and C, I noticed that C is the least busy of all, so the next morning i thought i was going to play it smart. I waited in the line, and when i reached Parking A, I skipped it so that i can part in C, only to find that C is closed. Of course , no sign or nothing. It seems that in Dubai you need to improve foretelling and occultism skills. Going back to the line would take me another 20 minutes, so i decided to park at the corner of the street. When i returned to my car in the evening, i found a parking ticket saying that i am parking in an inappropriate location.
What added in my disappointment is the big fuss made by the release of Windows 7. I bought a Laptop running windows 7, and immediately hit incompatibility issues:
1- does not run my Vmware virtualization software.
2- took my a long time to make it connect to my wireless router.
problems with windows 7 made my search for critiques about it, and i would like to share with you this article
Under the Hood, Windows 7 Is Vista's Twin
Who is Microsoft trying to fool? Underneath the fresh coat of paint, Windows 7 looks and runs like Vista. Here are the benchmarks to prove it.http://pcworld.about.com/od/windows1/Under-the-Hood-Windows-7-Is-V.htm
ammar sajdi
