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The story telling was superb and the connections he makes to our future was well worth the read.
Most of the content is focused on two topics: 1) Comparing the evolution of computing technology to the development of electrical power and 2) Discussing the social, political and cultural implications of the Web 2.0 applications offered on cloud computing platforms. To most people Cloud Computing is anything cool and successful that has happened on the Internet in the past 3 years or might occur in the next 3 years. But I think that the description on the back cover - "The Definitive Guide to the Cloud Computing Revolution" - is misleading. My favorite examples included how the Iraqi military used Google Earth to increase the accuracy of mortar fire against NATO troups; how the New York Times was able to uniquely identify the people behind AOL's publicly available keyword search data and how online forums and blogs can lead to extremism and potentially terrorism.
Then again, Cloud Computing is an almost meaningless term. The Big Switch is extremely well written, with lots of fascinating historical stories and analysis of potential changes to society resulting from technology. Nicholas Carr does an outstanding job of addressing both of these topics with an engaging and provocative writing style. This comparison has been discussed in IT circles for almost 10 years now. But if you are looking to better understand concepts such as virtualization and multi-tenancy or to better understand Amazon's Elastic Compute Cloud or [.].
As a result, I would recommend The Big Switch to anyone seeking insights on how Web 2.0 applications such as search engines, mashups, blogging, wikis and crowdsourcing are transforming society. But Carr is the only person who has actually did the research and provided a detailed analysis of the evolution of the electrical grids and technology utilities.I would say - definitely read the book. Because, in my opinion the book is not really focused on Cloud Computing. There is some content directly about Cloud Computing. platform then I would suggest a Gartner report or an IBM White Paper.
The Big Switch has less than a full chapter devoted to explaining any of these concepts. For example, anyone who is seeking to better understand the analogy between electrical grids and cloud computing would greatly benefit from Carr's book. Just don't expect it to be an expert on Cloud Computing once you are finished.
Very well written, great anecdotes and excellent research data to support itself. The author presents very compelling facts & current web developments as clear signals of awareness, to envision the future of computing for generations to come. What a window of opportunity.
Excellent book that covers how technologies in the past have evolved and how current technologies may evolve in a similar manner.Nicholas Carr does an excellent job conveying meaningful information in a well thought out manner.I found that I couldn't put the book down until I was done reading.
An excellent, fair, and critical look at the development of the Internet as a coming global utility - and what that means for the future of our society. He points to the growing disparity between haves and have nots, based on the Internet's tendency to grow computing fortunes based on other people's creativity and labor without any further diminishing returns. Carr parallels the development of the World Wide Computer with changes in the way we used electricity and manufacturing, and suggests that internet service will become the utility of the future.But what does that mean. Carr is also critical of the effects of that internet presence, both present and future. Likewise, he examines the role of a "flattened" culture where anybody can put any creative work on the Web - but all of it sucks. Read Carr if you are at all interested in where our world is going and what it means - whether you like it or not, it's what's happening.
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