Big Switch

I finished Nicholas Carr's The Big Switch, Rewiring the World, From Edision to Google. Overall a good read. He starts with an interesting technology history lesson that he later uses to make a point about where he believes all these computing resources are migrating. I like historical examples and his current-day tales, but the connection is tenuous. I also have his Roughtype Blog on my feed, so I was ready for some of his arguments, somewhat restated here, that there are some dangers looming from some of the big players out there, you know who they are. His writing makes you think, but some of his points are labored. Why shouldn't I be just as worried about all the hardware be in central places as I should be about new players such as Google providing all the software? He also seems to be very worried that Google's founders are interested in AI. If they were not, others would be. Carr is a journalist, not a computer scientist, so sometimes his focus is on what is in the press or who he has talked to lately rather than what is really relevant. Overall argument is that the world is being re-wired as we speak, in somewhat unexpected ways, and there will be some side-effects we will need to prepare for. Agree. He has some interesting focus points here. The book is non-technical but it will be most interesting to those involved in high tech. See also the book's web site, some excerpts are there to get a flavor for the book.