Re: The price of the one v.s. the price of the many

[Paul Koning <pkoning@xxxxxxxxx>]

>>>>> "Tom" == Tom Zerucha <tz@xxxxxxxxxx> writes:

 Tom> On Thu, Jul 20, 2000 at 11:22:37AM -0700, hal@xxxxxxxxxx wrote:
 >> > balance sheet > > value of 1.6 G bytes > ($200 IBM 20Gb drive,
 >> y2k) $12 > > value of 50 hours programming > ($100 per hour, y2k)
 >> $5000 > > net gain (loss) to society > from the Zimm Buddism >
 >> ("every byte is sacred"): ($4988) > > The 2nd millenium is over.
 >> Save programmers, not bytes.
 >> 
 >> This is a misleading comparsion.  There are circumstances where
 >> bytes can be extremely costly, such as in the new wave of wireless
 >> devices, smart

 Tom> You miss the biggest point.

 Tom> Value of 50 hours programming - $5000.

 Tom> value of 0.6 Mb (I assume this is the number) - $12 PER DRIVE.

Um, no.

Right now drives are about $10 per GB.  So 0.6 MB cost less than a
penny.  It takes nearly a million drives to break even.

Not only that, but the cost of extra programming is not just time
spent, but also quality reduced, which can be a lot more expensive.
In fact, if it introduces just one more bug that causes 1% of the
users $1 worth of extra hassle, you've already paid for the extra
bits.

	paul