Top 10 themes from RSA

RSA 2009

The world's biggest computer security show has come to an end, the expo hall is full of workers breaking down the stands and the assembled throngs are heading home.

It's been a highly productive show for many, it seems. Certainly a fair amount of business has been done, and the tutorial sessions were highly useful.

The show was smaller than last year, but this is no bad thing in a way. There was more serious work done, with fewer freeloaders gumming up the works. There were fewer press as well, which was nice for us.

So here we have our view about the most noticeable themes of the show. If you were there, let us know what you thought.

Honourable mention: Heat
Iain Thomson: San Francisco suffered (and I use the word advisedly) a heatwave for the first two days of the show. As the temperature climbed towards the 90s some delegates were visibly wilting in the heat.

To explain, San Francisco enjoys a microclimate that usually never gets over 80 or below 40, due to being surrounded by sea on three sides. This does have downsides, notably the summer fog, but otherwise makes it perfect for Europeans like myself who think that only lizards like every day to be hot and sunny.

On the plus side the heatwave did give everyone a topic of conversation that wasn't about security. A full week of 8am to 7pm security can be dulling after a while, and it was nice to have something else to talk about.

Shaun Nichols: Hot, stuffy, crowded. RSA this year was a lot like CES, minus the Blue Man Group. To those of us who have grown accustomed to Bay Area weather, a heat wave like the one that struck the first days of the show can be downright miserable. Heck, I had to open the windows in my flat and turn on the ceiling fan.

I'm sure those who flew out to the show from places like Finland and Moscow didn't mind it much, but for those of us who are used to the local weather, it only added to what was already a pretty tiring experience.

Add to that the fact that computer security professionals aren't always the type of people you want to be around when hot and sweaty, and you can begin to imagine why most of us are hoping that next year's RSA comes with a generous fog bank to keep everything cool.

Honourable Mention: Fewer freebies
Shaun Nichols: Recessions lead to belt-tightening. When money is short, budgets get cut and things like booth freebies dry up a bit. This year, those expecting to score some cool RSA swag came away with less than they did in previous years.

That's not to say there weren't enough freebies to go around, but companies that were handing out t-shirts and thumb drives in years past were giving away key chains and brochures instead.

I don't think too many people are complaining, though: when the choice is between booth goodies and jobs, it's no contest. Besides, would you really want to use a thumb drive you got at RSA?

Iain Thomson: I think the lack of disappointment over freebies was more of a case of fewer freeloaders being here due to tighter budgets.

In the past I've seen the crowds roar forth like the Visigoth hordes at the start of the expo, intent on pillaging everything possible and carrying it away in triumph to dispense to friends and family. This year the people who came to RSA largely did so because they needed to be there and fripperies were less of an issue.

Ultimately I think it's a good thing that booth babes and their male equivalents weren't thrusting cheap pens and squeeze balls at us all the time. Such things break or get tossed soon enough, and it's better for the environment if they don't get made.