Since the popularization of the desktop computer in the 1980s, we have become painfully aware of how quickly computers become outdated. Many of today's educators point to this trending
their argument against the use of computers. This trend of increased power at lower cost is likely to 
continue well into the next century and has
popularly become known as Moore's Law, after 
Gordon Moore, the cofounder of Intel Corporation. In 1965 he suggested (half in jest) that technology doubled in processing power approximately every 18 months and at the same time the price for that technology declined by about 35% a year relative to this power. The accuracy of Mr. Moore's prediction has proven to be frighteningly accurate. The table below (Tab. 1) illustrates the effects of Moore's Law from 1984 to 1999, with some minor adjustments. In a 1993 speech, Randall Tobias, the Vice Chairman of AT&T, put Moore's Law in perspective when he said, "...if we had had similar gains in automotive technology, today you could buy a Lexus for about $2. It would travel at the speed of sound, and go 600 miles on a thimble of gas. It would be only three inches long...but easy to parallel park!" (pg. 244).