Google Glass, Steve Wozniak, PC market crash: IT Pro's web comments round-up
Google Glass driving fines, the PC market crash and Steve Wozniak have all got IT Pro readers talking this week.
As another busy week in the tech world draws to a close, we take a look at the stories that have got IT Pro readers' goats this week.
This week readers taking umbrage about Steve Wozniak's tech vendor collaboration vision, Google Glass driving fines and the ongoing demise of the PC market.
Woz wants tech collaboration
Steve Wozniak's plea for Apple, Samsung and Google to put their differences (and patent disputes) aside in the name of tech innovation has been interpreted by IT Pro readers as an admission that Apple's products are below par. Yeah, alright...
Rumin8 was one of the many readers to level this accusation at the Apple co-founder, before complaining that this type of collaboration could result in the tech industry becoming an even bigger monopoly than it is now.
"Perhaps Woz' is just trying to excuse his guilt at having an Android phone and finding it better than an Apple device," Rumin8 sniped.
"How dare Google and Samsung produce something good when they are not Apple? [You can] solve that problem by making them co-operate with Apple so it can claim the glory."
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This was a view echoed by the owner of this week's most cumbersome pseudonym, Only Yourselves To Blame (OYTB).
"What Wozniak meant to say was, Apple is useless and cannot come up with any ideas of its own. So can we refine someone else's ideas please?' Well, considering dear old Woz hasn't had anything directly to do with Apple for some time now, IT Pro is not wholly convinced by this argument. Soz, OYTB.
Google Glass driving fines
This week also, reportedly, saw the first motorist in the world receive a fine for driving along in their automobile while wearing Google Glass.
It's fair to say the IT Pro readership wasn't particularly sympathetic to the driver in this case, although it did inspire an interesting debate about the range of devices that could be considered a distraction for driver.
For example, David wanted to know where the law lies if you use Google Glass as a Sat Nav.
"Surely that is safer than looking down at a mounted display while driving. Having a heads up display has got to be safer," he wailed.
The sensibly named CommonSenseRules responded to this by declaring Sat Navs to be a "very minor distraction" for drivers.
"Sat Navs provide useful information for drivers and arguably aid road safety by giving the driver one less thing to worry about. Listening to spoken directions is not really a distraction and glancing at the screen is a very minor distraction," he calmly stated.
"Following a Sat Nav while driving is OK, but programming a Sat Nav is bad. Watching the latest blockbuster on DVD while driving is always bad." Thanks for the tip.
Meanwhile, Henry3Dogg picked holes in the driver's assertion that Google Glass was switched off while they were driving.
"If I'm pulled up for drinking beer from a bottle while driving and claim that I wasn't drinking because the bottle was empty already, what level of credibility would that have? It's implausible," he fumed.
Tablets and toilets
The continued decline of the PC market in Western Europe (not to mention the rest of the world) was flagged once more this week by Gartner, with the market watcher declaring the UK as the worst performing country in the region.
For reasons unknown, this prompted an assertion from IT Pro reader Harry Edwards that tablet users buy the devices so they've got something to keep them amused while on the loo.
"The reason shipments have decreased is because people don't buy physical copies of games anymore, because it's all digital," declared Edwards.
"Also people are not buying tablets over PCs. People only buy tablets to use on the toilet."
This wasn't a view shared by Smell The Coffee, who said a quick look around your average early morning train carriage should leave people in no doubt about who is buying tablets.
"Tablets on the toilet? Take a look at the morning commute on most public transport and you'll see lots of people watching or listening to things via a tablet," they said.
"Manufacturers should just wake up and realise people just don't want great big hunks of PC in their homes when smaller devices do everything that's needed." And if they can do those things while the user is on the toilet, all the better.