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Comment by sp332 | Hacker News Reader

Bubble memory was doing just fine until a Nobel-winning physics breakthrough allowed the existence of high-density hard drives. If memristors do as well as bubble memory, there will have to be a serious fluke for it not to replace everything on the market. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bubble_memory#Commercializatio...

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Ah thanks for the memories (I was at Intel when they rolled up the bubble memory team). But if the Wikipedia page can be trusted, its a good example of the timeline of a disruptive technology. So 10 years from first devices to a chance to really disrupt everything. That would make 2018 the year to watch for memristor memory.

Unless progress is accelerating no?

It always feels like progress is accelerating but it is remarkably stubborn.

Swings and roundabouts - Intel did much the same to promising processors, with their x86 juggernaut. With unlimited cash reserves, you can put lipstick on a pig.

Hey, be nice to MRAM, it's useful stuff. It has horrible densities, but its as fast and reliable as you could please. I've certainly used it in applications where there wasn't anything else that could foot the bill.

Me too. Though it's more expensive than flash memory, it can support a much higher number of erase cycles.

Please give any pointer to "a Nobel-winning physics breakthrough which allowed the existence of high-density hard drives." Thanks!

This one https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giant_magnetoresistance

I think this is what we're talking about: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giant_magnetoresistance

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