New Fundamental Law of Network Economics 106
intersys writes "A new fundamental law of economics has been formulated by Rod Beckstrom, former Director of the National Cyber Security Center. In Words: The value of a network equals the net value added to each user's transactions (PDF) conducted through that network, valued from the perspective of each user, and summed for all. It answers the decades-old question of 'how valuable is a network.' It is granular and transactions-based, and can be used to value any network: social, electronic, support groups, and even the Internet as a whole. This new model or law values the network by looking from the edge of the network at all of the transactions conducted and the value added to each. One way to contemplate the value the network adds to each transaction is to imagine the network being shut off and what the additional transactions' costs or loss would be. Beckstrom's Law replaces Metcalfe's law, Reed's law, and other concepts which proposed that the value of a network was based purely on the size of the network (and in the case of Metcalfe's law, one other variable)."
As whiskers abound (Score:5, Funny)
The network is found,
Infinitely sound,
Until Slashdot-ground.
Burma Shave
whats new (Score:5, Funny)
1(4)+1(2)=6
Do we really need... (Score:5, Funny)
a new law that will, when the current crisis will end, contribute to create the next crisis?
Jack Bauer's law (Score:4, Funny)
Also known as the Law of 24:
Networks are easy, simply "open a socket". (And have a gun. And Jack needs to yell at the network a lot)
Jack: "WHY ARE YOU NOT ROUTING THESE PACKETS! "JUST TELL ME WHERE THE BIT-BUCKET IS!" "WHO ORDERED THE 3COM HUB?"
What? It makes as much sense as the article.
Re:whats new (Score:3, Funny)
1--1
|
1--1 = 6
| |
1--1
Re:Duh (Score:5, Funny)
By naming it. I have this definition of contributions to /. that increases your Karma. I call it Opportunist's law.
See? It's easy!
No, I didn't prove it in any way. That's not part of the exercise. Naming it is. So make something up and call it azgard's law. You'll see, it's fun, and you'll be the hit at parties when you can say that you're that guy the law was named after.
You should omit that you did the naming.
Re:How exactly does one calculate this value? (Score:5, Funny)
First we assume a spherical network....
Re:How exactly does one calculate this value? (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Duh (Score:3, Funny)
Look! Now we can determine the true net value of Myspace.
-0-
Oh crap.. nevermind. :D
Re:Shut off (Score:5, Funny)
But surely there are replacement wives available. So is the value of my wife in the positive things that I get from her currently, or is it only relative to the potential value of other wives, or of the freedom of having no wife at all?
Clearly, sir, you need a Redundant Array of Inexpensive Wives (RAIW). Twins (RAIW-1) are OK but RAIW-5 with lots of hot spares works better. Most admins agree that products with large rack mounts are better. A lot of hot air is generated resulting in increased cooling requirements. Also an astounding amount of noise, OSHA requires earplugs in that environment. This solution is popular in certain datacenters in Utah. Some folks claim a competing product exists, the Redundant Array of Inexpensive Girlfriends (RAIG) but everyone I've met agrees it usually ends up pretty expensive, the opposite of the original acronym, and there are often serious interoperability and EM compatibility issues. Finally w/ regards to financing there is considerable debate about rent vs purchase, short term lease vs long term lease, mileage reimbursement, etc. Rent to own agreements usually don't work out. Maintenance costs are somewhat beyond the realm of this email, but can be extraordinarily high. Anyway good luck with your network, Sir.
Re:Duh (Score:5, Funny)
It's handy that he named his observation "Beckam's Law" for us, because then we can apply inviolet's law:
A new discovery is headline-grabbing FUD/bunk if its discoverer names it after himself. Whereas a new discovery is probably useful if others name it after its discoverer.
Think of it as an extrapolation of the importance of peer review. Pretty handy, eh? That's why I named it after mys-- aw, damnit!
Re:Duh (Score:5, Funny)
Wait, wait, I have a similar epiphany in another field!
"The value of a pizza equals the net value added by each topping, multiplied by the cheese, rated by the taste experience of each user, and minus 100 if it came from Domino's."
There you go - please send accolades and research grants this way.
Re:Duh (Score:2, Funny)
You didn't understand the true "edge-based" genius of Beckstrom's Law. Applied to Pizza it would be:
"The value of all the worlds pizzas equals precisely the value that each pizza eater attaches to their pizza."
Yeah, this is the funniest slashdot article I have seen in a while. It becomes even funnier considering that this dude is actually serious about his conjecture. First, I thought it was a mere April's fool joke.
Re:Duh (Score:3, Funny)
Azgard's Law: Anytime Col. O'Neil is in imminent danger, Thor beams him up to his ship.