VMworld 2013 Community Discussion

It is quite huge... a bit bigger than the ones I used to see in practice.

Yes, that is a radio / television tower. It's visible from many points in the "The City", as locals tend to call San Francisco. For fun, I Photoshopped out that structure. See below for that. Enjoy!

Beats the *&^% out of Las Vegas in my opinion. Vegas is cheaper, though. That's probably why we keep going there. I will admit that I do like the Venetian / Palazzo.

well, when I was there that hill wasn't crowded at all. Just 1 other tourist and he took the picture of me with bridge and city. Maybe it's a bit more crowded now, but I doubt that.

Rob, you were on the wrong hill

Sure

Hope they soon move EMC World out of Vegas, 4 years in a row is more than enough

Really nice pictures, even with filtering

But you'd have to admit, Jim, that in Vegas everything is within walking distance and that's a good thing too!

Actually, I would maintain the exact opposite. I have been continuously struck during my long experience travelling to Vegas at how closed and non-green the city of Las Vegas is compared to, say, San Francisco. In Vegas, you get off the plane and then get in a 30 minute long cab line, which eventually takes you to your resort / casino (say, the Venetian / Palazzo). You then proceed to remain indoors (other than possibly the pool) on the same property for the entire stay. You then reverse the maneuver and take a cab back to the airport. You have thus burned carbon lavishly, and remained in precisely one location, the entire trip. Over 90% of the folks who visit Vegas behave in this manner, in my experience. Which is intentional on the part of the hotel / casino. That's what they want you to do.

Compare that to San Francisco. You get off the plane in SFO, ride AirTrain to the BART station, and take BART to the Powell Station. You then walk less than one block to the Marriott Marquis. To return to the airport, you reverse that maneuver. Your trip to and from the hotel now has a zero carbon footprint.

You want to go out to eat? There are hundreds of restaurants (none of which are directly associated with the Marriott) within easy walking distance. Want to go further? The Powell station is also a Metro station. You can take the Metro for around $4 as far as the Pacific Ocean if you want to, but you would probably stop around Golden Gate park and have dinner on, say Haight Street, around 5 miles from the Marriott. Try pulling that off in Vegas for less than $5! Aside from the completely useless monorail, Vegas is devoid of any usable public transportation system. Again, the only choice is the cab, which burns carbon lavishly.

The strategy of Vegas is closed: Get you into a hotel / casino, and keep you there, gambling, eating, drinking, etc. until your stay is over. If you leave the hotel / casino, they have lost.

The strategy of San Francisco is open: The concierge at the hotel will be happy to recommend any type of restaurant you like, none of which, again, is associated with the hotel in any way. The hotel staff assumes that because of the incredible ambiance of San Francisco, which includes diversity of restaurant choices, you will be back.

So, for my money (again remember that I am very green, and ride public transport whenever possible), San Francisco is definitely a better choice.

Actually, I would maintain the exact opposite. I have been continuously struck during my long experience travelling to Vegas at how closed and non-green the city of Las Vegas is compared to, say, San Francisco. In Vegas, you get off the plane and then get in a 30 minute long cab line, which eventually takes you to your resort / casino (say, the Venetian / Palazzo). You then proceed to remain indoors (other than possibly the pool) on the same property for the entire stay. You then reverse the maneuver and take a cab back to the airport. You have thus burned carbon lavishly, and remained in precisely one location, the entire trip. Over 90% of the folks who visit Vegas behave in this manner, in my experience. Which is intentional on the part of the hotel / casino. That's what they want you to do.

Well, about the cab I must say that I've been there twice now and the waiting line for the cab was around 0. Just get in and drive to the Venetian. The drive itself was maybe 30 minutes, but that's ok.

Why would I stay indoors? I've seen about half the city by now and I plan so see the other half as well. Well, not the entire city, but the strip, old and new, are things you just need to see. And besides that I've been in a helicopter through the Grand Canyon, a road trip through the Valley of fire, a visit to probably THE most impressive datacenter I've ever seen and the countless bars and restaurants that are just really nice to visit, eat and drink in.

And I've never even spent a single dollar in a casino yet (and I never will either).

My plans or next time include Fremont Street and hopefully a really big road trip around the GC, but I need some companions to travel with me. But that's the social part of it: it's fun!

Compare that to San Francisco. You get off the plane in SFO, ride AirTrain to the BART station, and take BART to the Powell Station. You then walk less than one block to the Marriott Marquis. To return to the airport, you reverse that maneuver. Your trip to and from the hotel now has a zero carbon footprint. You want to go out to eat? There are hundreds of restaurants (none of which are directly associated with the Marriott) within easy walking distance. Want to go further? The Powell station is also a Metro station. You can take the Metro for around $4 as far as the Pacific Ocean if you want to, but you would probably stop around Golden Gate park and have dinner on, say Haight Street, around 5 miles from the Marriott. Try pulling that off in Vegas for less than $5! Aside from the completely useless monorail, Vegas is devoid of any usable public transportation system. Again, the only choice is the cab, which burns carbon lavishly. The strategy of Vegas is closed: Get you into a hotel / casino, and keep you there, gambling, eating, drinking, etc. until your stay is over. If you leave the hotel / casino, they have lost. The strategy of San Francisco is open: The concierge at the hotel will be happy to recommend any type of restaurant you like, none of which, again, is associated with the hotel in any way. The hotel staff assumes that because of the incredible ambiance of San Francisco, which includes diversity of restaurant choices, you will be back. So, for my money (again remember that I am very green, and ride public transport whenever possible), San Francisco is definitely a better choice.

I've been to San Fran before as well and I do agree that I'd like to visit that again. So although I can see why EMC keeps having EMC world in Vegas, I'm not opposed to other locations.

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Great pics!