Comments on: The Big Switch Is a Good Thing

By: My daily readings 05/11/2008 « Strange Kite

My daily readings 05/11/2008 « Strange Kite — Sun, 11 May 2008 11:31:04 +0000

[...] The Big Switch Is a Good Thing - GigaOM [...]

By: La Vida Bloga » Blog Archive » 10 способов уничтожения интернета

La Vida Bloga » Blog Archive » 10 способов уничтожения интернета — Mon, 05 May 2008 07:49:35 +0000

[...] в группы по убеждениям. Никлас Карр в своей книге “The Big Switch” цитирует исследование, в котором приводится [...]

By: 10招干掉互联网？ | ucbeta

10招干掉互联网？ | ucbeta — Sun, 27 Apr 2008 01:27:13 +0000

[...] Usenet 至今，人们一直进行着“物以类聚”的分组行为。Nicholas Carr 在《The Big Switch》一书中指出：一项研究声称一个社区，不管保守或自由，其 90% [...]

By: 10 Ways the Internet (As We Know It) Will Die - GigaOM

10 Ways the Internet (As We Know It) Will Die - GigaOM — Sun, 06 Apr 2008 18:06:27 +0000

[...] Ever since Usenet, people have been grouping together with those who think like them. In his book “The Big Switch,” Nicholas Carr cites one study that claimed more than 90 percent of the links originating within [...]

By: Defining utility and cloud computing, the future via the Third Pipe |

Defining utility and cloud computing, the future via the Third Pipe | — Fri, 29 Feb 2008 16:18:27 +0000

[...] While utility computing often requires a cloud-like infrastructure, its focus is on the business model on which providing the computing services are based. Simply put, a utility computing service is one in which customers receive computing resources from a service provider (hardware and/or software) and “pay by the drink,” much as you do for your electric service at home – an analogy that Nicholas Carr discusses extensively in “The Big Switch.” [...]

By: Harry Quackenboss

Harry Quackenboss — Fri, 29 Feb 2008 11:18:28 +0000

The concept of utility computing and its social implications were framed and debated by the Multics crowd 40+ years ago. See:

http://www.multicians.org/fjcc6.html

http://www.multicians.org/mgc.html#computerutility

By: How Cloud & Utility Computing Are Different - GigaOM

How Cloud & Utility Computing Are Different - GigaOM — Fri, 29 Feb 2008 00:42:30 +0000

By: Venkat

Venkat — Sun, 24 Feb 2008 04:10:59 +0000

Hmm... curious that you guys have picked out the workforce aspects of Carr's book. My own take is that those 'social impact' aspects of the book are too weak to take seriously. My review focuses more on the technology portion of the book, which is relatively more sound. But overall I agree, a good read.

The social impact stuff was probably better (but more narrowly) covered by Dan Pink in Free Agent Nation.

By: The Big Switch: Rewiring the World, from Edison to Google’ | guidance.konin.pl

Fri, 22 Feb 2008 17:42:39 +0000

[...] (who is 31st most popular blog) “The Big Switch Is a Good Thing” - “But Carr’s arguments left me unconvinced that the big switch is a bad thing. [...]

By: The Big Switch: Rewiring the World, from Edison to Google’ | Educational

The Big Switch: Rewiring the World, from Edison to Google’ | Educational — Thu, 07 Feb 2008 04:57:42 +0000

[...] (who is 31st most popular blog) “The Big Switch Is a Good Thing” - “But Carr’s arguments left me unconvinced that the big switch is a bad thing. [...]

By: Bill Watt’s Blog » Blog Archive » The Big Switch

Bill Watt’s Blog » Blog Archive » The Big Switch — Tue, 15 Jan 2008 19:15:35 +0000

[...] the book The Big Switch yesterday based on a few blog posts and reader reviews. I’m about a chapter in and think it is a really good read so far. [...]

By: Dimitrios Matsoulis

Dimitrios Matsoulis — Tue, 15 Jan 2008 12:47:48 +0000

Interesting article but I think it misses completely the role of education in the determination of future equalities/inequalities and incomes. When schools catch up -something that has happened to a very small degree so far- judging standards will become different.
Currently, not everybody can write a book, but everybody can read a newspaper. In the same sense, not everybody can become a computer administrator but everybody will be able to use infotech for their work.
It is a mistake to assume that all jobs are directly linked to computer tech itself. All industry sectors use new technology or can introduce more of it but an engineer for example does not need to know how to write code… For this reason I think that transfering European and American capacity to Asia is a BIG BIG mistake the results of which will become apparent at a later point…
http://electronrun.wordpress.com/

By: James Urquhart

James Urquhart — Mon, 14 Jan 2008 23:21:59 +0000

Well done, Anne. You are truly becoming one of the enlightened voices of the computing as utility debate.

I think Nick's social predictions are in part doomed due to his dependence on a flawed assumption; that electricity is a near perfect analogy for cloud computing. He passes over key issues with regard to security and privacy (as ScaredOfTheMan also notes above), and thus fails to note how these issues change the outcome for cloud computing.

For these reason's, I have been suggesting the best path for those with existing datacenters is to convert their own infrastructure into a utility; thus gaining much of the economic advantages, while waiting patiently for solutions that protect data integrity and ownership.

By: Chetan

Chetan — Sat, 12 Jan 2008 17:16:30 +0000

Well IT Managers are no fools to shoot at their own feet by opting for Grid. Just like how *NIX and Windows are co-existing, the change towards GRID won’t happen anytime soon.

By: links for 2008-01-12 « Zero influence

links for 2008-01-12 « Zero influence — Sat, 12 Jan 2008 00:36:17 +0000

[...] The Big Switch Is a Good Thing - GigaOM ideas designed to annoy (tags: toread digital economy) [...]

By: Bob Warfield

Bob Warfield — Fri, 11 Jan 2008 22:54:44 +0000

Great post Anne!

The Big Switch will be a Rorschach test for everyone. You can see it as doom and gloom and likely it will have that effect on you. Or you can see it as unlooking tremendous opportunity and likely benefit.

I’m with you in the latter camp.