There Oughta be a Law
by Chris Crawford, Justice Served
www.justiceserved.com

Crawford serves as president of the Redwood Technology Consortium (www.redwoodtech.org), a professional trade organization promoting technology-based economic development on the North Coast. He is the owner of Justice Served, a court technology consulting firm based in Eureka.

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Everyone has heard of ?Murphy?s Law?. It says that if something CAN go wrong, it probably WILL go wrong. The field of technology has its own set of laws, some of which everyone will find useful. Here are a few for your consideration:

THE LAW OF INTERNET YEARS ? much like a dog?s human equivalent age is estimated by multiplying by seven, many in the technology field understand that product development and advances in innovation make the traditional 365-day-year obsolete. Most experts peg an ?Internet Year? at approximately 18 weeks, or just shy of a 3-to-1 ratio. Anyone who develops software or pursues a technology market strategy based upon current trends must act quickly to ensure that products and services meet market needs. Often, assumptions from the past year turn out to be way off base, requiring adjustments to ensure more accurate market placement. If you get the feeling that time seems to pass more quickly nowadays, you?re probably right, especially if you work in the field of technology.

THE LAW OF UPGRADES ? anyone who purchases computer hardware or software is buying time-sensitive goods. Some insiders joke that computers should have the same ?freshness? warnings as dairy products ? best if used by . This poses a dilemma when equipment and software begin to age and new models appear on the market. Some technology experts must stay current with the latest version, but most of us can slip by with more-or-less current hardware and software to meet our needs. With some exceptions, most of us are safe to use the ?every-other-version? rule. By skipping the very latest version of hardware and software, we can save some costs; however, by keeping up with every-other-version, we can still keep relatively current.

MOORE?S LAW - Gordon Moore, founder of Intel Corporation, stated that every 18 months, personal computer processing power doubles while costs holds steady. Despite the ever-changing nature of the technology field, this law has held as a constant with no expected deviation for the foreseeable future. Moore?s Law makes it affordable for individuals and small businesses to be equipped with the electronic means to conduct commerce as fast and freely as large corporations.

METCALFE?S LAW - Robert Metcalfe founded 3Com Corporation and designed the Ethernet protocol for computer networks. Metcalfe's Law states that the usefulness of a network equals the square of the number of users. By way of example, telephones and fax machines were of limited use until enough people had them. When we apply Metcalfe?s Law to the Internet, it is easy to see that with only 2.5 million computer networks in 1993, it served mainly as a military and research tool. Until the number of networks expanded in 1997 to more than 27 million, it became feasible to use the Internet for widespread email, electronic commerce, teleconferencing, and the host of current and future applications available.

What lessons can we learn from these laws? First, that time is quickly passing and we should try to stay as current as possible. Second, if we have limited resources we could probably fudge by upgrading every other version in order to save a few bucks. Third, we possess the same computer processing capacity as major corporations, so we are able to effectively compete. Finally, the more people and businesses we network, the higher the payoff.

These lessons apply to each of us as individuals and to our community as a whole.