Moore's Law is Dead.

[Achtung Bubba]

If you were expecting a tirade about Michael Moore, this isn't the article you're looking for. Move along, move along.

Moore's Law, which states that processor power doubles approximately every 18 months, has held amazingly true since the mid-Sixties, MUCH longer than anyone predicted.

Moore's Law is now wrong.

Processors are becoming more powerful at FASTER RATES.

All I can add is, HOLY SHIT.

[Squid]

Ha - look at the URL of that story: the_increase_in_chip_speed_is_accelerating_not_slowing_1.html

On a side note, that's good. Maybe we can drive down the cost of an Athlon XP 1800.

[Achtung Bubba]

Honestly, the price of the latest Athlon chip would fall on its own, because in 18 months, it will be superceded by a chip that's twice as fast - and that trend of immediate obsolesence has been true for decades.

The importance of this story is MUCH deeper than that:

Moore's Law was observed in 1965, just over 36 years ago. If chips double in speed and power every year and half, that means that processing power has doubled TWENTY-FOUR times.

That means chips are 2^24 times more powerful now than in 1965.

That's over 16 MILLION TIMES MORE POWERFUL.

Can you imagine if automobiles were 16 million times faster than they were in the mid-60s? Or airplanes?

And now, chips are doubling in less time.

Surely there are others who are genuinely thrilled to hear about this!

[Matthew_Page2000]

That's truly staggering.

MAP

[mug222]

To bring this to a consumer level...that's why I absolutely LOATHE purchasing computers. EVERY time I buy a computer I complete the following four steps:

1) Keep waiting until the next big thing comes out (i.e. the faster chip etc.) Of course there is no end to the cycle, so I inevitably end up waiting several months until:

2) I finally buy a computer and wait a month until it's totally obsolete, at which point I:

3) Lug computer to office doorway and use computer as massive doorstop, and finally:

4) Rinse and Repeat.

Please resume your more technological discussion

[This message has been edited by mug222 (edited 02-07-2002).]

[FizzingWhizzbees]

Originally posted by Achtung Bubba:

Can you imagine if automobiles were 16 million times faster than they were in the mid-60s?

You sure as hell wouldn't see me getting in a car

[speedracer]

Someone remind me why I need a 2 GHz processor again?

[Achtung Bubba]

Originally posted by Popmartijn:
With a faster computer Windows will crash even sooner.

Yup.

Windows: "Where do you want t-FATAL ERROR."

[Popmartijn]

Originally posted by speedracer:
Someone remind me why I need a 2 GHz processor again?

With a faster computer Windows will crash even sooner.

Marty (who is posting this from a computer with more computer power than what they used to get a man on the moon)

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People criticize me but I know it's not the end
I try to kick the truth, not just to make friends

Spearhead - People In Tha Middle