E-BUSINESS : Valuable edition containing a remarkably accurate prediction.(Business)

Byline: CHRIS TOMLINSON

When was the last time you cleared out the magazines on your reception table?

If by chance there is a copy of the 19 April 1965 edition of Electronics sat among the dog-eared, coffee stained journals you are in luck, as Intel are willing to give you ten grand for it!

I've already made an appointment with my dentist. He hasn't changed the magazines in his waiting room since 1965, and I can't think of a better place to start looking.

The magazine contains an article written by Gordon Moore, chairman and co-founder of Intel, where he predicted that computing power would double every 18 months.

Moore's prediction was quickly dubbed 'Moore's law' and amazingly, forty years old today, it still holds true. Mind you, it is his company that keeps bringing out faster microprocessors just in time to keep his law valid, but none the less a magnificent achievement.

But before we all rush off to our doctors, Intel is only interested in a mint copy they can frame and hang up in their reception.

Seems they had a copy, but it went missing a few years ago. Arch rivals AMD have been implicated as their microprocessors have recently been getting rather fast and are now arguably faster than Intel's.

Without Moore's law hanging on the wall, Intel are obviously getting worried. Hence they offered $10,000 on eBay for a copy of the magazine. They will need to checkout any potential vendors carefully as 10K is a lot of money to send to an anonymous PayPal account!

But, if AMD haven't got Moore's law either, what future does technology have? Is the PC I'm typing at now as good as it is going to get?

Moore himself recently said: 'Nothing like this can last for ever - but certainly for the next two or three generations, which is as long as I've ever been able to see. It will be 10 to 20 years before we meet the fundamental limits.'

Moore's Law refers to the fundamental limits of silicon, and how many circuits you can put on a single piece of it. You can only make the chips so big before heating and distance between circuits becomes a problem.

Although some think nanotechnology might keep Moore's law alive long after he is dead.

Nanaotechnology mimic the behaviour of larger systems, using biological or even inorganic components, but on a molecular scale.

Failing that, we need to geta copy of Moore's law back on Intel's reception wall!

So let's hope the original turns up on eBay, or a replacement is found, or increases in computing power may stop here!

So, I urge you all to look under your beds and rummage through your grandfathers' magazine racks, as there is a lot Moore at stake here than ten grand Chris is managing director of Internet consultancy WebXpress. This and other unedited articles can be found at www.webxpress.com