CES? We Hate It, Say eWEEK Readers

In a shock poll result,  eWEEK’s normally tech-crazy readers have revealed they hate the glitzy US gadget show, CES.

We asked readers what was the most exciting thing in the Consumer Electronics Show, which finished last week in Las Vegas, and from which we provided a feast of super-duper gadget-related stories. The most popular answer ignored the eye candy and said “We hate CES”.

Intel and Microsoft’s last hurrah?

The result may be sour grapes from people who didn’t get to go there, but 20 percent of you said there was nothing to shout about in the show. The answer actually agreed with some of the people on the show floor faced with an array of tablets, 3D TVs and broadband phones.

Some people reported that the main CES news was actually the end of the Microsoft-Intel hegemony, signalled by Microsoft showing a version of Windows for ARM processors, as well as the fact that neither company is leading in the aforementioned tablet and smartphone markets.

However, for our readers, Intel and Microsoft tied for second place as CES newsmakers. Intel’s Sandy Bridge got nearly 19 percent of the votes, and so did Microsoft’s Steve Ballmer, albeit for the volume, rather than the content of a keynote which disappointed with its lack of tablets.

Below that, Motorola’s Xoom tablet got 13 percent, and AMD’s APU based Fusion chips excited ten percent of you. Four and a half percent liked 3D TV  – which we dislike for their creation of tech waste.

At the bottom end of the ratings, a tough battle between tablets gave the British business-oriented itablet the meagre satisfaction of trouncing an HP WebOS tablet – albeit one which didn’t show at CES.

Those of you who went off-menu voted for devices which appeared too late for our poll’s formating, and particularly liked the Motorola Atrix 4G and the LG Optimus.

Despite rejecting the CES and all its works, you clearly know your gadgets.

Now, what about the government cloud?

After your comprehensive rejection of the tech showbiz of CES, this week’s poll comes back to the prosaic world of government computing.

The UK government is going to use cloud computing as a way to cut costs, in the budget freeze announced as part of the critical spending review cuts. But is it going to work?

The cloud can reduce costs, but has increased risks, for instance in security. Recent reports have suggested that the public sector is so keen on the benefits of cloud, that it is prepared to take security risks

Another danger is that moving to a subscription model merely offsets costs into the future, allowing a reduced cost this year, when budgets are under tighter scrutiny.

And a further possible fear is that, once personal data is in government hands, the ease of movement in the cloud will increase the temptation for government departments to play fast and loose with privacy.

The move to the cloud is real. What do you think will be the result?