BY GORDON BELL
BELL’S LAW FOR THE
BIRTH AND DEATH OF
COMPUTER CLASSES
A theory of the computer’s evolution.
In the early 1950s, a person could walk inside a computer and by 2010 a
single computer (or “cluster’) with millions of processors will have
expanded to the size of a building. More importantly, computers are begin-
ning to “walk” inside of us. These ends of the computing spectrum illus-
trate the vast dynamic range in computing power, size, cost, and other
factors for early 21st century computer classes.
A computer class is a set of computers in a particular price range with
unique or similar programming environments (such as Linux, OS/360,
Palm, Symbian, Windows) that support a variety of applications that com-
municate with people and/or other systems. A new computer class forms
and approximately doubles each decade, establishing a new industry. A
class may be the consequence and combination of a new platform with a
new programming environment, a new network, and new interface with
people and/or other information processing systems.