Wednesday, April 20, 2005

Ten Laws Of The Modern World

Forbes described Ten Laws Of The Modern World

  • Moore's Law
    In 1965 Moore (he co-founded Intel three years later) noted that components on silicon chips were doubling every year. In 1975 he amended that to every two years. Today Moore's Law has transcended silicon chips. It has become a way of saying that all digital stuff, from PCs to cell phones to music players, get twice as good every 18 to 24 months--at the same price point.
    It was said recently that Moore's law may finally come to an end, but people said that about it for the past 40 years, and it still seems to be going strong
  • The Back Side of Moore's Law
    Digital stuff gets 30% to 40% cheaper every year--at the same performance point. It's why hundreds of millions of Chinese and Indians now own their personal portals to the global economy.
    And it is why there is not a big market for used computer equipment (you can buy more powerful new stuff for less than most people are willing to sell their old stuff for, which creates a major opening for refurbishers like HelpingTulsa
  • Andy and Bill's Law
    "What Andy giveth, Bill taketh away." Every time Andy Grove--then chief executive of Intel--brought a new chip to market, Bill Gates--then CEO of Microsoft--would upgrade his software and soak up the new chip's power. But beyond the laugh, there's deep truth. Moore's Law constantly enables new software.
    And as a computer programmer I can tell you that the newer software is often much more sloppyly written, and hence more bug ridden, than the old stuff.
  • Metcalfe's Law
    Robert Metcalfe, the inventor of the computer networking protocol Ethernet, said the usefulness of a network improves by the square of the number of nodes on the network. Translation: The Internet, like telephones, grows more valuable as more join in.
    This is certainly true. As more people begin searching the web, the more websites will be created for them to visit, and hence the more people will join them searching the web
  • Gilder's Law: Winner's Waste
    George Gilder wrote the best business models waste the era's cheapest resources in order to conserve the era's most expensive resources. Today the cheapest resources are computer power and bandwidth. Google is a successful business because it wastes computer power--it has some 120,000 servers powering its search engine--while it conserves its dearest resource, people. Google has fewer than 3,500 employees, yet it generates $5 billion in sales.
    I never thought about it, but that is true too. Although there are some that think that Yahoo's model which uses a lot of computers like Google News does, but which also includes human editors, may make for a better solution.
  • Ricardo's Law
    The more transparent an economy becomes, the more David Ricardo's 19th-century law of comparative advantage rules the day. Then came the commercial Internet, the greatest window into comparative advantage ever invented. Which means if your firm's price-value proposition is lousy, too bad. The world knows.
    I never thought of it, but that is true too.
  • Wriston's Law
    Walter Wriston predicted the rise of electronic networks and their chief effect. He said capital (meaning both money and ideas), when freed to travel at the speed of light, "will go where it is wanted, stay where it is well-treated...."
    Interesting idea
  • The Laffer Curve
    Cut taxes at the margin, on income and capital, and you'll get more tax revenue, not less. Laffer reasoned that lower taxes would beckon risk capital out of hiding. Businesses and people would become more productive. The pie would grow. Application of the Laffer Curve is why the United States boomed in the 1980s and 1990s, why India is rocking now and why eastern Europe will outperform western Europe.
    As long as the Republicans stay in control, the USA can still become even more productive, but Heaven help us if the Dems with their Raise Taxes mentality ever get in control
  • Drucker's Law
    You will achieve the greatest results in business and career if you drop the word "achievement" from your vocabulary. Replace it with "contribution," says the great management guru Peter Drucker. Contribution puts the focus where it should be--on your customers, employees and shareholders.
    Interesting perspective
  • Ogilvy's Law
    David Ogilvy wrote that whenever someone was appointed to head an office of O&M, he would give the manager a Russian nesting doll. These dolls open in the middle to reveal a smaller doll, which opens in the middle to reveal a yet smaller doll...and so on. Inside the smallest doll would be a note from Ogilvy. It read: "If each of us hires people who are smaller than we are, we shall become a company of dwarfs. But if each of us hires people who are bigger than we are, we shall become a company of giants."

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