Dear silicon.com... cashless concerns, battle of the OSes, iPhone fans...

What's got silicon.com readers reaching for their keyboards this week? Reader Comments of the Week showcases how our users are responding to the latest tech news and views on the site...

Cashing in
The cashless revolution is coming...

People will always need cash. The point is that it can be split into smaller denominations and spread around the person. I personally put £10 in a separate pocket - on a night out - so I know I have enough for a taxi. If someone takes my wallet then I've always got the £10.
-- Christopher Hubbard, Newcastle upon Tyne

and so continues the march to enable the tracking of each and every financial transaction no matter how minor and along the way line the pockets of the card manufacturers.

exactly who's business is it that I bought a sandwich and a decafdoublehalfcafwithatwist and to what use will this information be put ?
-- Karen Challinor, UK

With dwindling oil reserves and hence power supplies the future of 'digital' cash looks bleak.

Even now you can get caught in a store that has an electricity failure & be unable to buy products because you don't have cash -- sometimes you even have cash but because of all the technology the staff can't take it off you.
-- Roger Huffadine, Worcester

The problem with citing the oyster card is that it is a niche payments system, in that it just covers London.

I live close to London that I could travel in regularly, however I do not travel in often because I am penalised for not having an oyster card, and because I don't travel in often enough I don't want to have an oyster Card with funds stuck on it which I would rather use.

Also have people not noticed some smaller business who have minimum spends for using credit and debit cards as well as cheques because of the charges that are made?
-- Anonymous, UK

Don't discriminate
PM backs flexible working for UK parents

Why this discrimination against people who, whether by choice or not, choose not to have children. Make it a right of all people, where a job makes it practical, to have flexible working.
-- Ian Snowdon, UK

Just as with maturnity leave this seems like a good idea in paper, but just as with maturnity leave, it will just lead to discrimination in the workplace, with businesses employing those staff who are less likely make use of the provision.
-- Guy Reynolds, UK

ID cards rocketing costs
ID cards to cost more than £5.6bn

I still for the life of me see how identity card will prevent terrorist form carring out the evil activities, after all most of the population of Britian have driving liecences but it does not stop them from either speeding or parking on the double yellow lines.
-- Anonymous, Chelmsford

Editor's choice

silicon.com editor Steve Ranger flags up his picks on the site this week...

♦ Peter Cochrane's Blog: Blind security
♦ Photos: Who's in the iPhone queue?
♦ Hot issue for green IT
♦ How tech drives the World Rally Championship

Favourite OS
Poll: In a fight between Vista, OS X, Linux, XP...

Blimey, still can't believe how many people are having a bad experience with Vista. Mine's working better than XP did!

Got no driver issues, no system speed issues. I have had 1 BSD which was caused by a bad driver in AV software but an update pushed out the next day fixed that.
-- Rob, Herts

It’s particularly good to see both OS X and Linux punching above their weight. With Apple shifting more Macs than ever before and Ubuntu really simplifying the Linux experience, we may start to see real competition in operating systems once again.

The biggest hurdle for Redmond though, is Vista. All the evidence you’ve presented suggests that an uncomfortably high percentage of users are voting with their feet and reverting to XP.
-- Roy Judd, Cornwall

You've certainly put a rather strange twist on the results. Given that well over 95% of the corporate market runs Windows, isn't it surprising how many of those would prefer to be running something else.

In the UK, probably fewer than 3% of corporate machines are Macs, yet look at how many would prefer to be using one.

Although the silicon.com readership is probably more geeky than the world out there, more people wanting Linux than Vista is a massive indictment.
-- Rory Choudhuri, High Wycombe

More on the iPhone

Follow the links for news, videos and pics of Apple's hotly anticipated iPhone…
News
♦  iPhone for business? Hang on...
♦ iPhone in the UK: Hands up who wants one?
♦ O2 recruits an iPhone army
Video
♦ Will the iPhone take the market by storm?
♦ Apple shows off iPhone apps
Photos
♦  Who's in the iPhone queue?
♦  The rise of the luxury mobile
♦ Steve Jobs and the UK iPhone launch

Big Brother bother
Data sharing 'could sap public confidence'

What scares me rigid and will probably make me oppose vigorously any such scheme is security. I have absolutely no confidence that my information will remain where is is supposed to be and will not be lost, stolen or otherwise compromised.

Organised crime is very wealthy and utterly unscrupulous where large gains are to be made or terrorism is to be advanced. What more lucrative target than the theft of countless identities?
-- Jerry, Kent

This all sounds great but the bottom line is that the government will mess it up and the tax payer will be left with a massive bill...again!

The government should be at least held to service level agreements...punishments and incentives put in place to ensure they don't screw it up.

Until they have the confidence in their ability to offer these types of guarentees then I don't have confidence in them delivering what they are saying;
-- Richard Davies, North Yorkshire

iPhone crazy
iPhone for business? Hang on...

O2 are right with concentrating on individuals - it's coming up to Christmas after all - and for business we really need a 3G version - come on Apple.
-- Simon Cox, London

Please note, comments may be edited for clarity - but are not corrected for grammar, spelling, punctuation or style. The views expressed are not necessarily the views of silicon.com. You can write to silicon.com by posting a Reader Comment below, or emailing editorial@silicon.com.