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Metcalfe's Law Refutation Explained
sdpinpdx writes "According to this article in the July 2006 IEEE Spectrum Metcalfe's Law (that the value of a network is n^2) is wrong (it's probably only n log(n)). The authors speculate this had something to do with the .com bubble, and that their more conservative model might help alleviate the next one. The article includes an interesting quote from Metcalfe: 'The original point of my law (a 35mm slide circa 1980, way before George Gilder named it...) was to establish the existence of a cost-value crossover point--critical mass--before which networks don't pay. The trick is to get past that point, to establish critical mass.'" This would seem to be an update to a story we ran more than a year ago.
Hrm. The editors can't recognize that an article is a dupe of one submitted two days ago, but they can recognize that an article is related to one posted a year ago? Weird. :P
So what if I spend 10 minutes devising some silly and arbitrary, yet very simple formula to place value on something as subjective as the value of a network. But, I'll do one for patent lawsuits...though this formula will give the relative ignorance of the original patent, measured in PES-Bs (patent examiner smoke-breaks.) I think I will square it by LEMIs (Large Entity Monetary Incentives) and divide that by the total number of patents submitted in that CY (Calendar Year.)
So we get: (PES-B ^ LEMI) / CY Patent total.
Can I get that formula named after me??
Why go fast when you can go anywhere? O|||||||O
I don't think this is as much a "refutation" as it is three people's assertion countering some other guy's assertion. Since the one guy is richer than the other three put together, I'd say the burden of proof is on them.
What I'm listening to now on Pandora...
Thanks, you just lowered the value of the network by adding an incorrect link. ;)
Developers: We can use your help.
The internet isn't made of pipes you fool. It's made of tubes.
My only political goal is to see to it that no political party achieves its goals.
So... what are the units of the result? Dollars? Web 2.0 beta credits?
Pipes, tubes, same difference. The real important thing is that we have those lottery balls to clean them out after the pocker chips get stuck.
Remember kids, tin foil doesn't work, so use LeadHat.
I don't know whether this post (+ the knowledge of the reference) or the fact that it was modded 'insightful' is funnier...
I mean, with all the Nazi stuff going around these days. It'd be really useful to call a spade a spade!
"Speaking the Truth in times of universal deceit is a revolutionary act." -- George Orwell
That's right, the value of the tubes increases with the log. Just like pumbing.
- Tash
Vrooomm...