Amplified by the law of the microcosm, the law of the telecosm signifies the rise in the cost-effectiveness of a network in proportion to the resources deployed on it and the number of potential nodes and routers available to it. As the network expands, each new computer both uses it as a resource and contributes resources to it. This is the secret of the stability of the Internet. Because all these routes and resources are interlinked, they are available to absorb excess traffic caused by outages, crashes or congestion elsewhere on the Net. Impelling the growth of the largest interconnected network, the law of the telecosm means that the most open computer networks will prevail.
Proprietary networks lose to a worldwide web.
Loaded for Bear I wanted to answer Metcalfe's challenger. But when he met me on a rainy day late in May at his Boston townhouse on Beacon Street, where he looks benevolently across the Charles at the MIT campus, Metcalfe was loaded for Internet bear. At the peak of his influence, this smiling cover boy of June's IEEE Spectrum, winner of the 1996 IEEE Medal of Honor, was ready to explain. Well, the FCC requires telcos to report all outages that affect more than 50,000 lines for more than an hour. I mean something much bigger than that.