Large storage space invites large files.
It's a basic truism. If it hasn't yet been defined as someone's law I want dibs
on it: As more and more storage space becomes available, the files we want to
save become larger and larger (and we want to have them
available on call as well). Partially this is a case of the parallel development
of digital technologies - we wouldn't be able to save digital photographs if we
didn't have larger hard drive - but it's also a case of expectations
rising to meet the possibilities - a technological corollary to Parkinson's
law that:
Work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion.
When our hard drives were small, the most we allowed ourselves to dream was perhaps
storing a large photo. When that became possible, we dreamed of saving music files.
I know someone who keeps digital copies of a few complete Disney films on her
hard drive, something which was totally inconceivable only a few years ago.
Go to: Planning ahead, or
Go to: Me and Moore's Law.