PC Speed Equilibrium
Moore’s law effectively sates that computer hardware doubles in speed approximately every 18 month.
Why is it then that PC’s never seem to get any faster?
While it is true that computer hardware abides to moors law; software that runs on PC’s does not.
Below are a few of the main causes:
- Software development is expensive complicated and time consuming; Software companies want simple cheap and fast solutions.
- Software companies think that users want more features and more gadgets although most people never use them (how many of you know all the available features of Word, Excel, Outlook or even your Video/Stereo or DVD player?).
- Every time new software is published, it relies on the fact that users have stronger and faster hardware, it uses less efficient algorithms, more space and because of that the end result is slower and bigger software(bloatware).
- Operating systems such as Windows hold central data bases of information and have resources that are shared with all existing software on your PC. The more software’s you have and the more time they operate, system performance degrades.
- Hard disks that store and retrieve information for the operating system and other software get fragmented and data retrieval and storage become less and less efficient.
Those 2 opposing forces cause an interesting phenomenon, a phenomenon I like to call PC Speed Equilibrium:
As hardware increases in speed, software slows down by approximately the same rate keeping PC’s at an ever lasting speed equilibrium.
So most of the time, we the users, don’t get to feel any speed improvements, we feel stuck with the same old speed and responsiveness even if we buy the fastest coolest machine out there.
The truth be told is that in some specific areas where software companies have to deliver speed and performance, like in action games, you could see a better overall experience.
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