The experts’ opinion of Carr’s prediction (that means you)

I need to be smarter about something. I’m electing you to help me. (Okay, really, I need to be smarter about everything. I have something specific in mind, though.)

I’ve written two Keep the Joint Runnings (“Carr-ied away,” 2/4/2008, and “Carr-toonish engineering,” 2/11/2008) and one Advice Line (“Just how wrong is Nicholas Carr?” 2/8/2008) about Nicholas Carr’s “new” idea (in quotes because others have been writing about this subject for years) that utility computing and SaaS mean IT will wither away.

From the titles you’ve undoubtedly gathered that I don’t think much of the prediction. On the other hand, it’s been a long time since I’ve personally written code, integrated applications or administered servers. That means I’m working from theory and memory, not current practice.

Many of Advice Line’s subscribers … that means you … are up to your elbows, right now, in the challenges associated with integrating SaaS solutions with your legacy environments; multiple SaaS solutions with each other; building grid-style virtualized production environments; and many of the other challenges that directly bear on the question of whether Carr’s predicted future has a chance or not.

If you have current, relevant experience with these or other technologies that have a bearing on this subject, please post them here. There might be other forums where this is being discussed from an engineering perspective. I haven’t found any.

So it’s up to you. What do you think – is Carr’s future realistic, base on a ground-level view and not just the hazy perspective you get at 100,000 feet?

– Bob

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