I finished the book: The Big Switch - Rewiring the World from Edison to Google, by Nicholas Carr while on vacation. It is a great read and I recommend it to any of you. I like a book that I think addresses one idea, then hits me with astonishing ideas. This book did exactly that. I thought I was reading a book about technology and the cloud, and I was, but it came with a business and cultural subplot that really jumped out at me.
The Big Switch is about the looming typhoon called cloud computing. Carr doesn't talk about the WWW (World Wide Web), but instead talks about the WWC (World Wide Computer). The cloud conglomeration of technology on the computer grid is changing technology, our economy, and our American culture.
Carr tracks the history of industry from Burden's waterwheel and factories on the river (see the Grand Rapids Public Museum and our Grand Rapids Furniture Building), to over 50,000 of Edison's Dyno generators in each and every factory in America, to power companies displacing company owned generators. Why own a privately owned generator when a centralized utility will manage and deliver the needed electricity for less money? Move forward to personal computer servers installed at individual firms and you see where this is going. Cloud based grid computing is a logical technical and commercial trend. We're on the front edge of this wave at this time.
The commercial subplot in the book is fascinating to me. Basically, technology has been the driver of productiveness worldwide for years. From the discovery of the wheel and the wick (yes, the candlewick) to Ford's assembly line,, trailblazers have been applying new technologies to human work to boost productiveness and create wealth forever. Google, Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, for example, and the new worldwide PC grid are changing that framework significantly. Note that formerly technology was applied to human paid labor (workers) to improve results. Google, Facebook, YouTube, Twitter and online companies are now cashing in on billions of dollars in value with 'free ' work. Google uses our search information to establish worth. You and I aren't paid for those efforts. Facebook creates value thru the connections and content that you and I create on that site. Facebook might have created 100 billion dollars of value by assembling 'free ' info that you and I delivered! YouTube uses free videos submitted worldwide to create value. They don't pay producers, directors or actors. This is a dramatic movement in valuevalue creation. I submit that these firms have generated almost $1 Trillion in worth using a volunteer labor force. You and I deliver the worth and content for free. The implication for work and professions as web technology advances from WWW (World Wide Web) to WWC (World Wide Computer) is similarly engaging and worth contemplating.
The cultural subplot is similarly fascinating. The last living humans who lived pre-electric are now dying. Imagine living when the sole light after the sun goes down is from your lamp, candle or fire. No street lights, no ceiling lights, no reading lights. Just darkness. Can you imagine each evening being like a camping experience, gathering around the fire 365 nights each year? Carr concludes the book with a short glance into the future, 80 years from now when the last human that lived pre-WWW dies. Do you remember what it was like pre-internet, pre-cell phone, pre-smart phone? Our American culture changed forever with the application of electricity and it's going thru a seminal change with the application of the world wide web/PC in our normal lives. What are the implications, gains and losses of this progress?
Consider The Big Switch as a brilliant read and an insight into the change that is coming to business and technology ...
The Big Switch is about the looming typhoon called cloud computing. Carr doesn't talk about the WWW (World Wide Web), but instead talks about the WWC (World Wide Computer). The cloud conglomeration of technology on the computer grid is changing technology, our economy, and our American culture.
Carr tracks the history of industry from Burden's waterwheel and factories on the river (see the Grand Rapids Public Museum and our Grand Rapids Furniture Building), to over 50,000 of Edison's Dyno generators in each and every factory in America, to power companies displacing company owned generators. Why own a privately owned generator when a centralized utility will manage and deliver the needed electricity for less money? Move forward to personal computer servers installed at individual firms and you see where this is going. Cloud based grid computing is a logical technical and commercial trend. We're on the front edge of this wave at this time.
The commercial subplot in the book is fascinating to me. Basically, technology has been the driver of productiveness worldwide for years. From the discovery of the wheel and the wick (yes, the candlewick) to Ford's assembly line,, trailblazers have been applying new technologies to human work to boost productiveness and create wealth forever. Google, Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, for example, and the new worldwide PC grid are changing that framework significantly. Note that formerly technology was applied to human paid labor (workers) to improve results. Google, Facebook, YouTube, Twitter and online companies are now cashing in on billions of dollars in value with 'free ' work. Google uses our search information to establish worth. You and I aren't paid for those efforts. Facebook creates value thru the connections and content that you and I create on that site. Facebook might have created 100 billion dollars of value by assembling 'free ' info that you and I delivered! YouTube uses free videos submitted worldwide to create value. They don't pay producers, directors or actors. This is a dramatic movement in valuevalue creation. I submit that these firms have generated almost $1 Trillion in worth using a volunteer labor force. You and I deliver the worth and content for free. The implication for work and professions as web technology advances from WWW (World Wide Web) to WWC (World Wide Computer) is similarly engaging and worth contemplating.
The cultural subplot is similarly fascinating. The last living humans who lived pre-electric are now dying. Imagine living when the sole light after the sun goes down is from your lamp, candle or fire. No street lights, no ceiling lights, no reading lights. Just darkness. Can you imagine each evening being like a camping experience, gathering around the fire 365 nights each year? Carr concludes the book with a short glance into the future, 80 years from now when the last human that lived pre-WWW dies. Do you remember what it was like pre-internet, pre-cell phone, pre-smart phone? Our American culture changed forever with the application of electricity and it's going thru a seminal change with the application of the world wide web/PC in our normal lives. What are the implications, gains and losses of this progress?
Consider The Big Switch as a brilliant read and an insight into the change that is coming to business and technology ...
About the Author:
Michael Ritsema, Owner/Manager of i3 Business Solutions, in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Providing managed IT solutions for companies in Grand Rapids and Western Michigan.
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