“Technology is becoming too cheap to meter”

says Chris Anderson at Wired. And he encourages “waste is good” by invoking Moore’s Law and the impact it has had on cheap personal computing.

Two basic flaws in Chris’s arguments

a) Moore’s Law does not apply consistently across technology spend. Outsourcing and telecomms in particular, and most software do not have a “lower prices increase volume” mentality. You have beat it out of them. Microsoft list prices for its Dynamics or Office products have not changed much for years. You have negotiate higher discounts each year to get any semblance of Moore’s Law out of them. Most outsourcers have inflation clauses and fight like hell to pass along any productivity gains in their performance. HP continues to charge $ 5,000 a gallon for ink for decades old printer technology. AT&T’s international roaming charges are the ultimate salute to Moore’s Law – salute as in flipping the bird by refusing to budge even as around them Skype and alternate providers can deliver at a fraction at their rates.

b) He extrapolates what we can get as consumers to corporate world. You and I can get storage at $ 100 for a ITB. For that price, I know several corporations that pay that much for 1 GB over 3 years. Sure, it is Tier 1 storage - much different grade than what you and I get, but that’s also 1,000 times the price. You and I can get a single Geek Squad visit if we have a home computer problem. Most corporations sign up for multi-desktop, multi-year support contracts at massively higher price points.

I look forward to the day when enterprise technology is too cheap to meter. Because that will be the day I am out of a job and I can go fishing full-time…