AC/DC

brentphillips — Mon, 09 Oct 2006 09:59:00 GMT

For those about to rock...or...for those about to flip a light switch, dry your hair, or watch a show on the tube, this might be of interest.

As you may or may not know, World Standards Day is coming up on October 11. So to honor the big event, I decided to read up on the first major standards war in US history. AC/DC is an excellent and short read that describes the battle for ‘hearts and minds’ between Thomas Edison’s camp promoting direct current electricity, and those supporting Westinghouse’s Alternating Current. Not unlike the battles that often take place today, there was extensive use of questionable scientific research, deceptive marketing, and heated debates among academics, scientists, and industry leaders. In the end, we see both standards prevailing, although the outcome is pretty one-sided (and both companies seemed to have done well with both anyway). I will not spoil the story for those who want to take a look, but I will offer that before the end you will get through scenes that inspired the land of Oz itself, the first use of the electric chair, a host of dead animals (not for the squeamish), and an innovative rat zapper. I will never look at electronic gadgetry in quite the same way...

Brent Phillips - Interoperability Blog : Reading

AC/DC