The Big Switch: Rewiring The World From Edison to Google – book blog

The book entitled, “The Big Switch: Rewiring The World From Edison to Google”  is now in its seventh printing. It is claimed to be in the New YorkJoomla! Journal Bestseller’s list.

The book is considered to be my typical text book that tackles the subject of information technology. A book that tells a story on how far computing have developed from 5 1/2 – inch floppy diskette to SD. And in today’s cloud computing, you don’t even need to bring any physical storage like an SD or 31/2 Floppy Diskette or Flash Drive because you can retrieve, share and collaborate anywhere and everywhere! Cloud computing that is!

Amazingly, without bloody armed revolution, the old paradigm is crumbling. It is dying of natural death –  the era of personal computing as we know it  is now in the brink of antiquity. The reign of the stalwarts have come to an end. As the writer puts it,

The shift is already remaking the computer industry, bringing new competitors like Google and Salesforce.com to the fore and threatening stalwarts like Microsoft and Dell. But the effects will reach much further. Cheap, utility-supplied computing will ultimately change society as profoundly as cheap electricity did. We can already see the early effects — in the shift of control over media from institutions to individuals, in debates over the value of privacy, in the export of the jobs of knowledge workers, even in the growing concentration of wealth.

Personal computing on the way out.

Cloud computing is in! And it is getting stronger and stronger every minute because in the cloud, time and space do not exist so better manage your time and know what you want before clicking the browser. You will get lost with the links and trackbacks and millions of search results. The understanding of cloud computing is easier to understand now compared 20 years ago. All we have to do now is to make sense or self awareness of the basic concept – The File Management.

• Store, retrieve, edit, create, publish, and process information anywhere

When the book talks and describes what happened long time ago, I traveled through time say, way back 25 years ago (set time year – 1984). Who would believe an ordinary computer user like me in 1984,  if I claimed to have copied and pasted the author’s words in my blog?

Today, I have no problem using words such as copy, paste, click, right click and blog. Everybody seems to know or at least familiar with the words.  However,  in the technological divide those are strange words. Not only that they should understand the words example. copy and paste, click and right, left, select – they now must do some hands on exercises using the mouse and/or keyboard.

Talking on copying and pasting, please see the article below:

My Copy and Paste Sample (in case somebody ask me if I know how to copy and paste)

Source: http://www.nicholasgcarr.com/bigswitch/

A hundred years ago, companies stopped generating their own power with steam engines and dynamos and plugged into the newly built electric grid. The cheap power pumped out by electric utilities didn’t just change how businesses operate. It set off a chain reaction of economic and social transformations that brought the modern world into existence. Today, a similar revolution is under way. Hooked up to the Internet’s global computing grid, massive information-processing plants have begun pumping data and software code into our homes and businesses. This time, it’s computing that’s turning into a utility.

The shift is already remaking the computer industry, bringing new competitors like Google and Salesforce.com to the fore and threatening stalwarts like Microsoft and Dell. But the effects will reach much further. Cheap, utility-supplied computing will ultimately change society as profoundly as cheap electricity did. We can already see the early effects — in the shift of control over media from institutions to individuals, in debates over the value of privacy, in the export of the jobs of knowledge workers, even in the growing concentration of wealth. As information utilities expand, the changes will only broaden, and their pace will only accelerate.

Nicholas Carr is the ideal guide to explain this historic upheaval. Writing in a lucid, engaging style, he weaves together history, economics and technology to describe how and why computers are changing — and what it means for all of us. From the software business to the newspaper business, from job creation to community formation, from national defense to personal identity, The Big Switch provides a panoramic view of the new world being conjured from the circuits of the “World Wide Computer.”

Who would believe me  years ago when I tell everyone that their files can be saved and access remotely for free. Who would believe me 20 years ago, if I spread the news about our web conference using a web cam for free!

Nicholas Carr is/was a witness of what’s cooking in technology through all these years. He is smart enough to publish his finding– made his book to NewYorkJoomla! Journal bestseller’s list –in reaction, the consumers bought/owned/read/reviewed/blogged/searched and now, I have something to think/talk  about his book.

With words to ponder —from steam engine to electricity and then to the galactic interconnection with 1 and 0, pure bits and bytes, codes and signals travel through wires and wireless – the Matrix way!

Who would believe me 30 years ago when I said, I blog about Nicholas G. Carr and by blogging, there is the possibility to get in touch with the author himself.

Crazy! they may say, unless I have a doctorate degree in computer science at MIT  and then author, co-author and published dozens of books and journals, made it to the NewYork Joomla! Times! then people might believe me and from then I could start making money. Everyone is happy! because in the USA, in New York City – you can read “The Big Switch legally and for free!

Just visit our Public Libraries!

Here is the direct link of the Queenslibrary Book Search: The Big Switch

The Big Switch: Rewiring The World From Edison to Google by Nicholas G. Carr

Summary: An analysis of an evolving trend in computer-based business makes predictions about its role in transforming economics and culture, evaluating how the shift from private computer systems to internet-based networks has initiated a major revolution.

What comes to mind when you see the words, “Cloud Computing”?

Me? An ordinary computer user I imagined —  saving, accessing, retrieving, editing,  collaborating and communicating anywhere and everywhere in the world without thinking on operating system and applications. Just connect, collaborate and interact remotely.

I imagined the working relationship and the interconnection between cloud computing and mobile computing – the merged has just began. It is just unbelievable. –shock and awe effect!

In cloud computing, be aware that there is no such thing as privacy! If you were in the Internet,  joined and used the services available for free or even paid services and or being active using search engines, emails, blogs, ebays and online transactions then, we already gave up privacy. We exchange or pay the use of this technology with our personal information and our clicking behaviors. They analyze our website transactions. They must know our likes and dislikes so they could at least make profit when we start spending our money with the use of technology. If we are willing to pay that price then happy cloud computing!

Filed under: Culture, Education, Ethics