Software grows slower faster than hardware grows faster.
Also called Page's law and Gates's law. A 2024 text editor opens no faster than a 2004 one on hardware a hundred times more capable, which is the observation in its purest form.
In practice
- A finance team's monthly close takes the same ninety minutes it took in 2010, on laptops four times faster, because the workbook grew to fill them.
- A hospital's records system runs slower after the upgrade, and the upgrade was to the hardware.
- Further reading
- Wikipedia
- Subject
- Technology & Software
- Essay
- The curves, the limits and the laws of software