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A24 TECHNOLOGY
Saturday 7 March 2020
Austin officials cancel South by Southwest festival

Associated Press "Sxsw is one of my favor-
AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — The ite festivals," he tweeted.
organizers of South By "Canceling it was the re-
Southwest — which draws sponsible thing to go. I
hundreds of thousands of know this sucks for many
visitors and some of Holly- people for whom this was
wood and music's biggest a massive opportunity. But
stars — announced Friday we're kind of in an unprec-
they had cancelled the edented situation here and
annual arts and technol- caution is key. Thank you
ogy festival, saying they're for the making the right de-
"devastated" but recognize cision."
it is necessary to prevent a Media producer Stephen
serious threat of contagion. Stuart, 35, from New York
Mayor Steve Adler an- City said he bought a
nounced a local disas- $1,200 pass but that he's
ter Friday afternoon as glad the event has been
a precaution because cancelled.
of the rapidly spreading "There are hundreds of
new coronavirus, effec- thousands of people who
tively cancelling the an- come from all around the
nual event that had been planet. They're all travel-
scheduled for March 13-22. ing, they all go to this one
Travis County Judge Sarah In this March 13, 2019 file photo, David Byrne takes part in the "Reasons To Be Cheerful" featured place, and then they're all
Eckhardt, the county's top session during the South by Southwest Music Festival in Austin, Texas. Austin city officials have pushed into these rooms
elected official, signed a canceled the South by Southwest arts and technology festival. confined with one another.
companion disaster dec- Associated Press It's not really conducive to
laration for the county sur- not spreading a disease."
rounding Austin. The order nity safer," but that the situ- mieres and performances eight cases in the Houston Stuart said he doesn't know
banned festival gatherings ation evolved rapidly and from major artists. area. if his ticket will be refunded.
that would attract people they respect officials' deci- The COVID-19 threat is The announcement comes It's not the first time a nega-
from areas where COV- sion. growing rapidly nationally, days after several high- tive cloud has been cast
ID-19 has been found. "We are devastated to said Dr. Mark Escott, inter- profile companies, includ- over the festival. A driver
No one in the Austin area share this news with you," im medical director and ing Netflix, tech news outlet plowed into a crowd out-
has been found to have the organizers said in their health authority for Austin Mashable, video-based so- side SXSW in 2014, killing
the virus, Eckhardt said. statement. "'The show must Public Health. cial media platform TikTok two people and injuring 23
However, South by South- go on' is in our DNA, and "That threat is growing lo- and U.S. chip maker Intel, others.
west was expected to have this is the first time in 34 cally because of what's pulled out of the festival. The festival drew 73,716 at-
drawn an international au- years that the March event happening in the rest of the More than 50,000 people tendees last year, 19,166 of
dience into close quarters, will not take place. We are United States and across had signed a petition seek- whom came from outside
posing a serious threat of working through the rami- the world," Escott said. ing to get the festival can- the U.S. Combined with
the disease spreading. fications of this unprece- The U.S. death toll from the celled. SXSW's gaming expo and
Festival organizers noted dented situation." coronavirus has climbed Actor Kumail Nanjiani, who education conference, the
that Austin Public Health South By Southwest started to 14, with all but one vic- had been scheduled to 2019 event drew 417,400
had stated as recently as in 1987 as a small showcase tim in Washington state, attend the festival to pro- attendees, organizers said.
Wednesday that "there's for up-and-coming bands while the number of infec- mote "The Lovebirds," said An economic impact re-
no evidence that closing that turned into an interna- tions swelled to over 200 on Twitter that he was dis- port found it contributed
SXSW or any other gather- tional extravaganza, which scattered across at least appointed but that he un- $355.9 million to the local
ings will make the commu- now includes movie pre- 18 states, including at least derstood. economy.q

Microsoft says virus hurting supply

chain more than expected

In particular, Microsoft said Last month, Microsoft pre- The company’s statement
revenue from Windows li- dicted it would make be- Wednesday suggests that
censes and its Surface tween $10.75 billion and the range was not wide
devices “are more nega- $11.15 billion in revenue enough to reflect the
tively impacted than pre- from its personal comput- spread of the outbreak
viously anticipated.” The ing business in the January- and its ongoing effects.
company said demand March quarter. Microsoft’s About a third of Microsoft’s
for Windows products is still chief financial officer, Amy revenue comes from Mi-

In this Jan. 28, 2020, file photo a Microsoft computer is among strong, but getting the sup- Hood, said on a Jan. 29 crosoft’s personal comput-
items displayed at a Microsoft store in suburban Boston. ply chain back to normal is earnings call that the com- ing division, which houses
Associated Press taking longer. That goes for pany had widened the the company’s Windows
both Microsoft-made Sur- usual range for its revenue operating system, its line of
By MATT O’BRIEN expected, as the company face devices and Windows forecast because of the Surface laptops and tab-
AP Technology Writer said it won’t meet targets products made by third “uncertainty related to the lets, its Xbox gaming hard-
The virus outbreak in China is that had already factored parties, which include Acer public health situation in ware and software and its
hurting Microsoft more than in the uncertainty. and Lenovo. China.” Bing search service. q