As the computer industry celebrates its first 50 years, the significance of Intel founder Gordon Moore’s 1965 axiom about the rate of the progress in the semiconductor business seems to be greater than ever – but what exactly is Moore’s Law? Recently, Intel Corp executives have been saying that, according to the Law, Processing power – at a given price point – doubles every two years. But just two years ago, people were claiming that it said power doubled every 18 months. Gordon Moore actually said that processing power doubles every year. Perhaps there should be a new law; the speed of technical advance will almost always be distorted when placed under the influence of a marketing force.
