Nicholas Carr's The Big Switch is the latest entry in the "Cloud Computing" genre, though Carr forecasted the phenomena in his earlier book "Does IT Matter?". Carr compares the Internet, which he tries to rename the "World Wide Computer", will do for computing what the electric power grid for electricity - move companies from strategic customization of computing resources to a complete outsourcing for access to computing technologies. It is an intriguing metaphor for something that has been written about extensively elsewhere - the use of outsourced centralized servers for hardware and software applications, most notably offered by Amazon and Google.
Car admits that there are important differences between electricity in the early twentieth century and computing technologies in the twenty-first. Unlike electric power, computing technologies are much more protean, and the programmability inherent in computing technologies ultimately differentiates it from power sources. But even if that is the case, the metaphor Carr explores provides a useful starting point for forecasting what will happen to the industry.
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