"Our intention was to bring Information Technology to the common folk," said Aziz Rahman, Chairman of the BCS Media subcommittee.

Indeed they did, as over 10,000 people visited the fair each day.

The BCS Computer fair showcased a number of hardware and software products by international manufacturers such as LG, Hewlett Packard, Samsung, Intel and Phillips.

In addition, seminars were organised to attract different segments of the society. Discussion topics ranged from "Is Internet available for the poor?" to "Business Strategies for SMEs".

According to Rahman, crowds grew progressively larger with each passing day.

Sitting with his friends, Tafiq, owner of his own IT firm, admitted he came to "get together with friends in a festive atmosphere, contemplating on what they were planning to buy.

A major attraction was a large pull-down flat screen at the entrance airing popular music videos.

"People like things they can touch and feel, which makes the interactive stalls very popular," said Rahman. "I really liked the Samsung Touch Screen," confessed Nabila, a computer engineering student at AIUB. "But I'm going to buy a scanner priced at Tk 3,500, discounted from Tk 3,800," she said.

Scanners and MP3 players were among the more accessible "hot" items at the fair. Despite the much-advertised fanfare about discounts, there were many skeptics on the ground.

"We see normal discounts available everywhere," said Tafiq. "What the vendors do increase the price of items by Tk 800, then discount them by Tk 500," he said.

A fair is not the same without contests and games. "Be a gamer, not a hacker," was the motto of Sparkle-sponsored arcade gaming area, where people competed for a trip to Malaysia (1st prize), a digital camera (2nd prize), or an MP3 player (3rd prize). According to Riaz Ahmed Adnan, coordinator of the gaming area, the average gamers were teenagers, but there were players as young as seven joining the competition. One impressive seven-year old, Asif Jaman, made it as a semifinalist.

Roger Subho Madhu, an O-level student and brothers Ahmed Zubayer and Ahmed Numayer won the top three prizes. A fourth prize was awarded under special consideration to in appreciation of the achievements of female contenders to Sumaya Sayed, a Dhaka University student.

However, the best prize of all had to be the one offered at the three-hour long animation contest on December 16th, where the best performer was awarded a job opportunity at an animation company! The contenders were challenged to create an animation of a crow taking away the lunch eaten by an unsuspecting boy. The winner is yet to be announced.