Still, calling a hobbyist who
sells some of his creations a vendor is a dubious distinction, in my
opinion, since no one is making much money on these things, it's just a
service for fellow enthusiasts. All of the other shows I attend (like
the upcoming CocoFEST!) make no distinction.
We have a good reason for doing this.
Events that mix sales/exhibits together, without making distinctions
from booth to booth, tend to become flea/swap-type events. That's fine
for those of us IN the hobby, but these events will only ever shrink,
not grow, as the audience/collectors get older.
Our goal at VCF is to produce awesome events that show vintage computing
to people * beyond * hobby insiders.
When people who have casual interest attend a VCF, they're not going to
come back if the room is a big confusing mix of exhibits and stuff for
sale. These people -- a massive audience vs. the few of us active
collectors -- aren't attending to find memory for their Banana 3000.
They're attending to be wowed.
