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 enlarge | Author: Nicholas Carr
Publisher: W. W. Norton
Category: Book
List Price: $25.95
Buy New: $15.88
You Save: $10.07 (39%)
New (46) Used (15) from $14.95
Avg. Customer Rating:  33 reviews
Sales Rank: 14472
Media: Hardcover
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 276
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.2
Dimensions (in): 9.3 x 6.3 x 1
ISBN: 0393062287
Dewey Decimal Number: 303.4834
EAN: 9780393062281
ASIN: 0393062287
Publication Date: January 7, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Customer Reviews:
 Really two books in one August 11, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
For those who know or care about the infrastructure undergirding our technology revolution, this is a must-read book. The thesis is simple: we're at a tipping point where "utility computing" will quickly replace in-house data centers. It sounds simple, but the implications are not. The first half of the book lays out and describes the revolution, sometimes in breathless terms. The second half is much darker, however, detailing projected consequences. The author points out that a number of popular websites these days have nearly zero staff--the content comes from users and the infrastructure is rented utility computing from the likes of Google and Amazon. This means that huge online businesses do not translate to employment. In the past, when industries, such as electrical utilities, have undergone major transformation, people lost jobs, but new jobs were available using different skills. The author has a gloomy outlook here: the lost jobs may not be replaced. I suspect the real outcome will be a bit better. People are inventive and new technologies (perhaps not electronic) will need people. Overall, a great book, but I do think the second half is rather darker than it needs to be.
 future view is flawed August 10, 2008
I found this book interesting when it covered the time period from 1870's to current day (2008). When the author began to discuss possible futures, I thought he was unrealistic and pessimistic. I do not think his forcasts are grounded in any sort of a good understanding of technology and are not to useful.
Overall this book is worth reading but the author should have stopped at the current time; his future views really distract from the quality of the book.
Interesting read if not a little pessimistic August 10, 2008
As a computer software professional, I took extra interest in this book and did find it interesting and thought-provoking but not that realistic and a bit pessimistic about the future of the knowledge worker.
The first half of the book is a history lesson about electrification and the impact it had on societies and on individuals.
The basic thesis of the first half of the book is the creation of the electric grid accelerated the concentration of wealth in large businesses. With electric light and power, businesses could build bigger and more productive plants, boosting their output and gaining advantages of scale over smaller businesses. Further, as the big companies expanded, they hired huge numbers of both skilled and unskilled workers and paid them good wages.
Since start of the Industrial Revolution, mechanization had been steadily reducing the demand for talented craftsmen - their work had been taken over by machines that required little skill to operate - and electricity accelerated this trend.
Part Two is about what Carr calls the "World Wide Computer" - the Internet as we know it. The WWC will displace private systems as the preferred platform for computing and traditional IT departments will be significantly downsized Carr writes.
The arrival of a universal computing grid portended a different kind of economic realignment, the author writes. Rather than concentrating wealth in the hands of a small number of companies, it may be concentrate the wealth in the hands of a small number of individuals.
Carr sees the power moving from many companies now that provide software to few with Google obviously being the main player with their growing suite of applications including YouTube.
Some examples of companies with smaller IT departments are provided to show that as much manpower isn't required to run services that operate over the Internet.
I agree with a lot of the comments made in the reviews already posted re there isn't a clear parallel between cloud computing and the electricity grid but it made for interesting reading nonetheless.
If there is or isn't a parallel does not matter too much to me as I was interested in how the author saw computing and computing over the Internet would change businesses and individual computing going forward.
As far as some of Carr's predictions, software as a service and cloud computing are here now (on a small scale) and I don't hear of mass downsizing of IT departments. If anything, different skills will be required to connect the disparate systems and Services Oriented Architecture will play a role in this.
Overall, I found it to be an interesting read but I enjoy reading about history and especially about technology.
Interesting, yes. Revolutionary, no. August 7, 2008
A generally optimistic look at the cloud computing (under the auspices of remote processing/parallel or utility computing) future. Similar to Wikinomics, The Big Switch is a concept book that describes the World Wide Web using a myriad of hyperboles. Contrary to Wikinomics, The Big Switch repeats many of the same stories tech-history writers have been telling for years. To his credit, Nicholas Carr does include some insight and a few new stories, but overall those who have done any reading about, have background in, or follow technology headlines will find Carr's book less than satisfying.
On a positive note, the writing is easy to read and will be understandable for non-computer people. Also has the potential to get one enthused - if not slightly nervous - about the possibilities of technology.
A useful way to enjoy The Big Switch would be to borrow it from the library, skim, and copy out the few passages that will appeal.
Utility comparison has a fatal flaw June 18, 2008
I liked the book in general but struggled with the utility analogy. Here is why:
The utilities have traditionally built the infrastructure from the generation plant to your house. If the meter goes wrong, you call them. Power goes out in the middle of the night, they are on the hook. They make the investments, and they reap the rewards.
In the utility computing environment world, we have multiple players. If the connection between me and say Google is down, it could be my local ISP, the connection or backbone or Google itself. The physical connection has multiple entities, with far different agendas in play.
In the book, many of the examples are for free or very cheap solutions. Who pays for the required upgrades to the infrastructure? The consumer will at the ISP level indirectly, not the IT utility. I found it curois when Carr sited Google's new data center and its placement, where the local county had made the investment in dark fiber.
The final flaw is this: if ISPs start charging for bandwidth caps, it goes against the utility model. Unlike the electricity where power users get better rates, the consumer ISP model would suggest that I limit my usage or at least aggressively monitor my usage. With teenage daughter who have grown accustom to videos and music on demand, this will be areal challenge.
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