End of Software, The: Finding Security, Flexibility, and Profit in the On Demand Future

Moore's Law

The history of the technology industry has been driven by one central issue: the cost of computing. More than 20 years ago, a little company called Intel was started. Its first products—the Intel 4004 and later the Intel 8080—were thought of as little computers that were fine for game machines or PCs. In 1965, Gordon Moore made his famous observation that the number of transistors per integrated circuit doubles every 18 months. He forecasted that this trend would continue through 1975. The press called it “Moore's Law,” and the name has stuck. And as we all know through Intel's technology, Moore's Law has been maintained for far longer.

All the while, the cost of microprocessors has dropped as well. In the end, even though Intel encountered ...