Bussum - The end of an era | MSX Resource Center

Bussum, one of two yearly Dutch MSX fairs, is no more. Main organizer Laurens Holst has decided that, following his declining MSX activity, the Bussum era is over. Perhaps the slightly disappointing 2008 Bussum fair played a role in this decision as well, which couldn't have been greatly motivating, but that hasn't been mentioned.

The MSX fair in Bussum was the follow-up of the huge MSX fair in Zandvoort, in the rousing 90's era of the MSX scene. The photos in our photoshoots of both Zandvoort and Tilburg fairs speak for them self. At some point, TNI fully took over organizing the fair, which was already relocated to Bussum. In all the years, MSX fairs have changed a bit. From massive fairs like Zandvoort and Tilburg to smaller meetings like Bussum was. From loads of new software by tens of groups to social meetings where -in recent years- there wasn't always something new to show. Perhaps it's simply the fact that the MSX's online presence is so established that people need fairs less and less. Also, we grow older, perhaps for some of us the time to visit fairs is shrinking. But all this is mere speculation, because..

..what's left is Nijmegen, the fair organized by Manuel Bilderbeek, usually halfway January. Luckily, this fair seems strong enough to live on for a while. But as of today, it's formally the only larger MSX fair left in The Netherlands. Let's cherish it!

Relevant link: TNI - Bussum

Comments (19)

By Grauw

Paragon (1797)

23-07-2009, 22:23

Era, era… decade if you must . But yeah it has been a long time huh. Wrt the fair of 2008 being part of the reason to call it quits, it was not really on my mind, but I guess indirectly it did influence my decision some. Primarily because if I did continue, I wanted to move the fair to Utrecht (which, amusingly, would also have meant the end of the “Bussum” era ;p), closer to my home and hopefully with a single big room, but also more effort to find and get organised.

About the online MSX community reducing the need for fairs; I don’t know about that, I’d say especially if you do most things online, with the small and close MSX-community there is nowadays where everyone knows everyone, having a bi-yearly opportunity to meet eachother is of great value!

By Google

By wolf_

Ambassador (9106)

23-07-2009, 22:31

Yes, that's called chitchat. And when fairs are places to chitchat then you know exactly who'll be doing that: the people behind the booths. I've seen barely anyone I didn't know in some way during the last few years o' fairs. A question could be whether there are any 'normal' people left in NL, as in: normal MSX users who aren't in any group, who just go to fairs hoping to find something new. If fairs have the image of sceners chitchatting with other sceners while there's no new content for the casual visitor, who doesn't really have someone to chitchat with, then I can imagine that for those people the importance of such a fair is declining. The term 'fair' is a bit vague here as well. Wasn't a fair to be "creators offering their goods to the audience"? If there're only creators and no audience, then the traditional idea of the fair is gone.

But alas, Nijmegen from here..

By sunrise

Paragon (1090)

23-07-2009, 22:50

Into the first place special thanks for organizing for the decade.
I believe this year would be different quite from last year.Last three weeks I see such an increase of becoming available products on short term. We have franky, SD-interface. From our side at least Nowind, new Manbow2 serie hamaraja night in cooperation with Totally Chaos( Moonsound support !)on cart and quite some other things in the pipeline I am working on. Meaning seeing if it can be produced ,implementing etc.
And everyone thinking it's cumcumber time no way !

By mth

Champion (430)

23-07-2009, 23:47

Thanks Laurens, for every Bussum fair. I think I visited all of them

The last few years the visitor number of fairs have been pretty stable, so I'd say there is certainly an interest. I enjoy talking to people I haven't seen in a while and talking face-to-face to people I meet on IRC every day. So I hope someone will organize a new fair; Nijmegen is great but one fair per year is just not enough.

By OeiOeiVogeltje

Paladin (703)

24-07-2009, 00:26

yup,a shame....

but!!!!!

GO NIJMEGEN!!!!!!!!!

By dhau

Paragon (1496)

24-07-2009, 04:56

sunrise, what's a cucumber time? I really don't know...

By Latok

msx guru (3022)

24-07-2009, 09:05

Of course there are still the MVM and MCWF meetings. Still, like mth, I also do believe having two MSX meetings a year, not connected to MCWF and MVM, should be organized.

I wonder if rklok his initiative can be combined with some sort of meeting-up.

By Arjan

Paladin (693)

24-07-2009, 09:15

dhau: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silly_season

By dioniso

Champion (316)

24-07-2009, 13:28

Bussum 2008: that was my second MSX Meeting ever. It's a pity...

By SaebaMSX

Hero (533)

24-07-2009, 17:52

Bussum 2004 or 2005 was my first meeting outside Spain... I could even see a big MSX logo in a wall in Utrecht while travelling by bus... do you remember that one, grauw?

By Grauw

Paragon (1797)

24-07-2009, 23:34

Saeba: ah, haha you mean the graffiti on the electrical house? Hehe, wonder if that’s still there, I’ll look when I go back home on monday . Hope so, never got around to taking a picture of that.

By Manuel

Enlighted (7229)

25-07-2009, 21:21

Who made that grafitti? Is that known?

Anyway, I also think I've been to all Bussum fairs. The first one, we stayed up all night... we (mostly mth, though) even tried to code something, but it was impossible

Great fun.

And sunrise: fantastic to hear about all that new stuff!

Um, about the Nijmegen fair: too bad the site mentions that it's on 24 January, because that was the date of the 2009 fair, which is already over
Talking about 2010 Nijmegen fair: I'd better reserve the room soon... I've been too busy to organize anything so far...

By sunrise

Paragon (1090)

25-07-2009, 22:23

Well Manuel this are the obvious things.
The other things keep a suprise till it is all ready

By Grauw

Paragon (1797)

26-07-2009, 00:07

Oh, right Manuel, sorry! I’ve sent an updated version to Patriek.

The graffiti, I’m not sure if it actually refers to the MSX we all know and love, but it’s still nice to see . It wasn’t me! ;p And the Marathon, yeah that was fun, too bad we couldn’t do it ‘properly’ anymore the last couple of years.

By FiXato

Scribe (878)

26-07-2009, 11:28

cross-posting from the MSX Mailinglist:

Laurens "Grauw" Holst wrote:
Hello folks,

It pains me to say, but after 10 years of organising the MSX fair Bussum, I’ve decided that last year’s fair has been the last. I’m not sufficiently involved with the MSX scene anymore to be organising this thing. And 10 is a nice round number, too .

It is indeed a bit painful to see another annual MSX event die,
especially one that has lasted for such a long time..
Bussum (and Zandvoort before it) has given me many fond memories, and
gave me (and many others) the opportunity to purchase lots of MSX
soft- and hardware.

Also with the 24-hours marathon I got the opportunity to get to know a
group of MSXers on a more personal level, which led to some wonderful
friendships. For me MSX nowadays is more a social thing, and I've
especially missed the marathon the last couple of years, but I still
appreciated the post-summer meetup opportunity, which usually
included some rounds of joyful SingStar with you all!

For all this I would like to thank you Laurens! (and Jaap Hoogendijk
of course, for starting it with Zandvoort).
Bussum has been a great experience, which will be missed.

Laurens "Grauw" Holst wrote:
I hope someone else will take initiative to organise a replacement fair. If you have questions about organising a fair I’ll be happy to try and answer them. I’ll definitely come look around! And of course don’t forget the MSX fair in Nijmegen on january 24th.

I would like to see if there is a possibility for organising a
replacement fair (perhaps with Anne?), preferably with a marathon,
however due to my upcoming migration to Norway, this might be a bit
difficult
It could be a good idea to see if we can interest non-MSX communities
for this as well though, to perhaps get a bit fresh blood into our
community.

Having visited the all-oldskool-platforms-are-go demoscene party
Outline 2009 (which originally also was an Atari-only event), showed
me that there isn't much difference between the communities; we are
basically all geeks who love a heavily outdated system from the
eighties, and love pushing it (or seeing it being pushed) beyond its
perceived technical limits.

Having said that, let's all try to come up with ideas for how we can
build an F5-to-continue option into Bussum

By TheKid

Rookie (26)

27-07-2009, 13:08

Yep, it's realy ashame grauw has decided to stop organising the Bussum fair. i always enjoyed the fairs, seeing what everyone in the community is busy with, "chitchatting" with others and presenting and demonstrating the things why have made or are busy creating. Personally a big part of the msx fun is actually seing a boot with your own programs (especially when releasing a new game) and showing it to others. If that would come to an end, half of the fun is gone. So, thanks grauw for all the fairs you did organise and hopefully nijmegen fairs keeps on going for many years to come.
The kid, Delta Soft.

By AuroraMSX

Paragon (1849)

27-07-2009, 14:04

First, a million thanx to Graw for organizing 10 great Bussum fairs

Primarily because if I did continue, I wanted to move the fair to Utrecht (which, amusingly, would also have meant the end of the “Bussum” era ;p),
Maybe the HCC could help out there. Don't they have their headquarters or at least some big meeting rooms for exactly these kind of events in Houten?

By Manuel

Enlighted (7229)

22-08-2009, 10:14

MSX Fair Nijmegen website is updated, please check: http://manuel.msxnet.org/msx/beurs

Fair date: 23 January 2010. Be there or be Enix.

By Latok

msx guru (3022)

22-08-2009, 10:22

We'll all be there, Quibus