– It’s rainy and dreary here in Boston. The sky’s overcast and it drizzles constantly. But the atmosphere inside the Boston Convention and Exhibition Center was surprisingly upbeat yesterday. Despite Apple’s absence, the crowd was mostly upbeat and the vendors (there are about 75 present) with whom I spoke almost all said that floor traffic was better than they had expected considering all the gloom-and-doom buzz that preceded the expo. Heck, IDG has already announced a date for Macworld Boston 2005: July 18-25.