Still, we stand at an amazing point in high-tech history.
That would seem to count against Silicon Valley, where premises are costly, and against London and New York, which are not only expensive but also lack California's high-tech history.
As one of the most difficult years in high-tech history comes to a close, the sight of oxygen being administered to weary computer executives may have been a more apt metaphor than Comdex's organizers would like to admit.
If, on the other hand, the Xbox fails, it will go down as one of the more remarkable flops in high-tech history: Microsoft has hinted that it will spend $500m over the first 18 months on marketing alone more than it has splashed out on any other new product.
Plans: A festival for unsigned musicians, a high-tech history laboratory and a children's pageant of drama, song, dance and design.
Yet two years into the biggest bust in high-tech history, an estimated 10,000 public and private software companies are still in business.
The chief executive of Hewlett-Packard has pulled off the biggest merger in high-tech history, vanquishing her bitter nemesis, a son of cofounder William Hewlett.
If Swansea Bay is successful, the programme for 2017 would include a festival for unsigned musicians, a high-tech history laboratory on the historic Hafod Copperworks site, and a children's pageant of drama, song, dance and design.
Fiorina responded to Boxer's criticism on Thursday, claiming the Compaq deal was "the most successful merger in high-tech history".
The history of high tech is marked by three big waves.
