World of Commodore is an annual computer expo dedicated to Commodore computers. The shows were initially organized by Commodore Canada or its sister companies, and took place at the International Centre in Mississauga, Ontario, though in some years additional expos were held in the United States, Australia, or Europe. The expos were among the largest in the computing industry, with attendance at some events reaching 100,000. As with cross-industry trade shows such as CES and COMDEX, World of Commodore expos were widely reported on in computing magazines. With the decline of its 8-bit product line and the rise of the Amiga, Commodore began branding some of the expos as World of Commodore/Amiga. The name was changed to World of Amiga following Commodore's bankruptcy in 1994 and purchase by German PC conglomerate Escom the following year. The Amiga expos continued until 2002. In 2004, the original exhibition series was revived by the Toronto PET Users Group. As of 2016 World of Commodore continues under TPUG's aegis, albeit on a scale much reduced since the expo's heyday.
Show highlights
1983 The first World of Commodore was organized by Commodore Canada and held at the International Centre in Mississauga, Ontario from 8 to 11 December 1983. Over 70 exhibitors from around the world signed on to debut and demonstrate their Commodore-compatible software and hardware. Despite the unexpected absence of some exhibitors, the convention was a phenomenal success, with 38,000 visitors attending; attendance on the show's final day was the highest in the history of the International Centre. The show was emceed by TVOntario's Jack Livesley, and featured seminars by Jim Butterfield and others. Exhibitors included Batteries Included; Bell Canada; Commodore Business Machines; Commodore Power/Play; Holt, Rinehart, and Winston; Koala Technologies; Micron Technology; the Toronto PET Users Group (TPUG); and The Transactor.
1984 World of Commodore II was held from 29 November to 2 December 1984 at the International Centre in Mississauga and attracted 41,516 visitors. Commodore held off on launching their 16-bit product line, instead concentrating their large display on the Plus/4 and Commodore 16. Speakers included David Berman and Jim Butterfield, and exhibitors included the COMAL Users' Group; Commodore Business Machines; Currah; Grolier; Holt, Rinehart, and Winston; Houghton Mifflin; Mastertronic; TPUG; The Transactor; Vaisala; and Watcom.
1985 The third annual World of Commodore expo was held at the International Centre in Mississauga from 5 to 8 December 1985. The show was notable for three major product launches by Commodore: the Commodore 128, Amiga, and the PC-10 and PC-20 IBM PC-compatible systems. The expo also hosted the usual slate of seminars, with presentations by Commodore, Digital Solutions, TPUG, Jim Butterfield, Steve Punter, and others. Industry exhibitors included Abacus Software, Ahoy!, Commodore Business Machines, Digital Solutions, Electronic Arts, Gold Disk, Grolier, McGraw-Hill Ryerson, TPUG, Watcom, and WordPro distributor Norland Agencies.
1986 The fourth World of Commodore was held the first week of December 1986 at the International Centre in Mississauga. All major Amiga software companies were present, with the notable exception of game developers such as Electronic Arts. Hardware developers and vendors were out in force, with Mimetics demoing a Deluxe Music Construction Set–compatible MIDI sequencer, and Xetec presenting its SCSI interfaces and hard drives. Commodore itself used the show to launch its Amiga Sidecar and to announce its forthcoming genlock card. The computing press was represented by The Transactor, Amiga World, and RUN. Notable personages in attendance included author Jim Butterfield, Commodore engineer Dave Haynie, and sysops from Commodore-related forums on The Source and CompuServe.
1987 World of Commodore 1987 was held at the International Centre in Mississauga. There were over 85 exhibitors, including TPUG, Ahoy!, Electronic Arts, The Transactor, NewTek, Supra, Inc., Gold Disk, Xetec, and Commodore itself. The show's major focus was on the Amiga 1000, Amiga 500, and Amiga 2000, with comparatively few offerings for Commodore's 8-bit and PC-compatible lines. Commodore demoed the A2300 Genlock and the PVA, two new genlock cards for the Amiga 2000, and announced two new PC-compatible systems: the PC 10-III, a 9.54 MHz XT clone, and the PC-60, a 386-based machine running XENIX. New productivity software exhibited at the show included Berkeley Softworks's geoPublish, Electronic Arts's PaperClip III and Mavis Beacon Teaches Typing, and NewTek's Video Toaster. New games for the Commodore 64 and 128 came mostly from Electronic Arts, and included Halls of Montezuma, Bard's Tale III, Skyfox II, Strike Fleet, and Skate or Die. New Amiga software demoed or announced included Arkanoid, Bard's Tale II, Reach for the Stars, Thexder, Space Quest II, Police Quest, The Hunt for Red October, and WordPerfect. Seminars were presented by Jim Butterfield, Steve Punter, Fred Fish, and others. The expo achieved record attendance of 42,000.
1988 1988 marked the first time that two World of Commodore expos were held: one in November at the Philadelphia Civic Center, and the other in December in Toronto. Attendance at the Toronto expo was over 43,300, surpassing the record set the previous year. As in 1987, the Amiga dominated all aspects of the show. Exhibitors included Ion Publishing, publishers of Ahoy! and AmigaUser. In September, 1988 a World Of Commodore expo was held at the newly opened Sydney Convention and Exhibition Centre, Darling Harbour, Sydney, Australia.
1989 Three World of Commodore shows were held in 1989: the original Canadian edition was held from 30 November to 4 December in Toronto, an American East Coast edition was held from 22 to 24 September in Valley Forge, Pennsylvania, and an American West Coast edition took place at the Los Angeles Convention Center from 19 to 21 May. The Los Angeles show saw exhibits and announcements from Commodore, NewTek, MicroIllusions, Xetec, Amiga World, and Canon Inc.
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