Magnus Holmgren <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes: >> No it doesn't. >> >> The "SI binary prefixes" are an abomination. > > Why - besides pronunciation?
Well among other things, the end result of this whole mess will likely be to _increase_ confusion, rather than lessen it: Until now, in a typical computer app, "900K" had an unambiguous meaning: 900*1024. Now that a bunch of people are all in a misguided frenzy to "correct" things (which weren't broken), there will almost certainly be cases where some silly fool will change the _calculation_ but not the label (e.g., in a case where space is at a premium) -- e.g., they'll keep "K", but change the calculation to "/ 1000", because that's "correct". However it's _guaranteed_ that many apps will stick with "/ 1024". Thus a suffix (e.g. K) which was previously unambiguous in practice (and no, disk-drive advertisements don't count) will have become more ambiguous in practice. [At which point of course the kib-fans will start crying out that because things are now very confused, we muuuuuuust switch to "gib" suffixes -- all because they basically screwed things up.] Great. -Miles -- `To alcohol! The cause of, and solution to, all of life's problems' --Homer J. Simpson -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact [EMAIL PROTECTED]
