Lindy's Law

The future life expectancy of some non-perishable things, like a technology or an idea, is proportional to their current age.

-- Albert Goldman, 1964

Named after Lindy’s delicatessen in New York City, where comedians gathered to discuss their craft, this effect holds that the longer a non-perishable thing has survived, the longer it is likely to continue surviving. In software, it is a useful argument for choosing older, battle-tested technologies over newer, less proven ones: a technology that has endured for decades is more likely to still be around in the coming years than one that just appeared on the scene.